A fairy tale is the oldest genre of oral folk art, a classic example of folklore.

Telling fairy tales in Rus' was perceived as an art that everyone could join, regardless of gender and age, and good storytellers were highly revered by the people. They teach a person to live, inspire optimism in him, affirm faith in the triumph of goodness and justice. Behind the fantastic nature of the fairy tale and fiction, real human relationships are hidden.

The term "fairy tale" itself appeared in the 17th century. , and was first recorded in the charter of the governor of Vsevolodsky. Until that time, the word "fable" was widely used, derived from the word "bayat", that is, to tell. Unfortunately, the names of professional storytellers of past times are not known to modern researchers, but the fact is known that already in the 19th century, scientists began to study Russian folklore, including fairy tales.

Fairy tale is a general concept. The presence of certain genre features makes it possible to attribute this or that oral prose work to fairy tales. Belonging to the epic genus puts forward such features as narrative and plot. The tale is necessarily entertaining, unusual, with a clearly expressed idea of ​​the triumph of good over evil, truth over falsehood, life over death; all the events in it are brought to an end, incompleteness and incompleteness are not characteristic of a fairy tale plot ...

The main genre feature of a fairy tale is its purpose, that which connects the fairy tale with the needs of the collective. “In Russian fairy tales that have come down to us in the records of the 18th - 20th centuries, as well as in fairy tales that exist now, aesthetic function dominates. It is due to the special nature of fairy-tale fiction.

Fiction is characteristic of all kinds of fairy tales of different peoples. .

IN AND. Dahl in his dictionary interprets the term "fairy tale" as "a fictitious story, an unprecedented and even unrealizable story, a legend" and gives a series folk proverbs and sayings associated with this type of folk art, for example, the famous "neither in a fairy tale to say, nor to describe with a pen." This characterizes the tale as something instructive, but at the same time incredible, a story about something that cannot actually happen, but from which everyone can learn a certain lesson. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, a whole galaxy of collections of Russian folk tales was published, which absorbed the pearls of folk art.

Russian folk tales are distinguished from other tales of the peoples of the world, first of all, by their educational orientation: let us recall at least the famous saying that a fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it. Work in Russian folk tales is depicted not as a heavy duty, but as an honorable duty for everyone. They glorify moral values ​​such as altruism, willingness to help, kindness, honesty, and ingenuity. They are one of the most revered genres of Russian folklore due to a fascinating plot that opens the reader to an amazing world of human relationships and feelings and makes them believe in a miracle. Thus, Russian fairy tales are an inexhaustible source of folk wisdom, which is still used today.

The educational function of a fairy tale is one of its genre features. Fairy-tale didacticism permeates the whole fairy-tale structure, achieving a special effect by sharply contrasting the positive and the negative. Moral and social truth always triumphs - this is the didactic conclusion that the tale clearly illustrates.

The history of the emergence of fairy tales as a genre.

Historical roots Russian fairy tales are lost in hoary antiquity, each historical stage of the life of the Russian people is reflected in the fairy tale, making natural changes to it. The study of these changes, or rather, the generalization of these changes, makes it possible to speak about the specific process of the life of the Russian tale, that is, about its history.

Install accurately. When exactly the Russian fairy tale was defined as a genre, when exactly it began to live as a fairy tale, and not as a belief or tradition, is impossible.

The first mention of a Russian folk tale refers to Kievan Rus, but its origins are lost in time immemorial. As for feudal Rus', then there is no doubt that fairy tales, in our understanding, were one of the widespread genres of oral folk art in Kievan Rus. The monuments of ancient Russian literature have preserved enough references to storytellers and fairy tales so as not to doubt this.

The earliest information about Russian fairy tales refers to12 century. IN teach "Word O rich And miserable" in the description of a rich man’s going to bed, among the servants around him who amuse him in various ways, those who “bayat and blaspheme”, that is, tell him tales to sleep, are indignantly mentioned. This first mention of the fairy tale fully reflected the contradictory attitude towards it that we have been observing in Russian society for many centuries. On the one hand, a fairy tale is a favorite revelation of fun, it has access to all strata of society, on the other hand, it is stigmatized and persecuted as something demonic, not permissible, shaking the foundations of ancient Russian life. So, Cyril of Turovsky, listing the types of sins, also mentions the playing of fables; Metropolitan Photius at the beginning of the 15th century conjures his flock so that they refrain from listening to fables; royal decrees of the 17th century speak disapprovingly of those who destroy their souls by the fact that "he tells unprecedented fairy tales."

All this gives us reason to believe that in ancient Rus' the fairy tale has already stood out as a genre from oral prose, demarcated from tradition, legend and myth. Its genre features - “an orientation towards fiction and entertaining functions are equally recognized by both its bearers and persecutors. Already in Ancient Rus' they -<сказки небывалые>and it is precisely as such that they continue to live in the popular repertoire in subsequent centuries.

Researchers about the fairy tale and its genre features.

Researching a fairy tale, scientists defined its meaning and features in different ways. Some of them, with absolute obviousness, sought to characterize fairy tale fiction as independent of reality, while others wanted to understand how the attitude of folk storytellers to the surrounding reality was refracted in the fantasy of fairy tales. Whether to consider any fantastic story as a fairy tale or to single it out in the oral folk prose and other types of it - non-fairytale prose? How to understand fantastic fiction, without which none of the fairy tales can do? These are the problems that have long worried researchers.

A number of folklore researchers called a fairy tale everything that “affected ». So, Academician Yu.M. Sookolov wrote; "Under the folk tale in the broadest sense of the word, we mean an oral-poetic story of a fantastic, adventurous or everyday nature." The scientist's brother, Professor B.Yu. Sokolov, also believed that everyone should be called a fairy tale. oral story. Both researchers argued that fairy tales include a number of special genres and types, and that each of them can be considered separately.

An attempt to distinguish a fairy tale from other genres of folklore was made more than a hundred years ago by K.S. Aksakov. Speaking about the difference between fairy tales and epics, he wrote: “Between fairy tales and songs, in our opinion, there is a sharp line. Fairy tale and song are different from the beginning. This distinction has been established by the people themselves, and it is best for us to accept directly the division which they have made in their literature. A fairy tale is a fold (fiction), and a song is a true story, the people say, and its words have a deep meaning, which is explained as soon as we pay attention to the song and the fairy tale.

Fiction, according to Aksakov , influenced both the image of the scene in them, and the characters of the characters. Aksakov clarified his understanding of the tale with the following judgments:<<В сказке очень сознательно рассказчик нарушает все пределы времени и пространства, говорит о тридесятом царстве,о небывалых странах и всяких диковинках>>. Aksakov believed that the most characteristic of fairy tales is fiction, moreover, conscious fiction. The well-known folklorist A.N. Afanasiev . << Сказка- складка, песня- быль, говорила старая пословица, стараясь провести резкую грантцу между эпосом сказочным и эпосом историческим. Извращая действительный смысл этой пословицы, поинимали сказку за чистую ложь, за поэттческий обман,имеющий единою целью занять свободный достуг небывалыми и невозможными вымыслами. Несостоятельность такого воззрения уже давно бросалась в глаза>>, - wrote this scientist. Afanasiev did not allow the idea that<<пустая складка>> could be preserved by the people for a number of centuries and over the vast expanse of the country, holding and repeating<< один и то жк представления>>. He concluded:<< нет, сказка- не пустая складка, в ней как и вообще во всех созданиях целого народа, не могло быть, и в самом деле нет ни нарочно сочиненённой лжи, ни намеренного уклоднения от действительного понимания сказки.

The sign accepted by Aksakov as significant for fairy tale narration was, with some clarifications, the basis for the definition of a fairy tale proposed by the Soviet folklorist A.I. Nikiforov. Nikiforov wrote:<< сказки - это устные рассказы, бытовом смысле события (фантастические, чудесные или житейские) и отличающиеся специальным композиционно - стилистическим построением>>. Explaining the meaning of his definition, Nikiforov pointed out three essential signs of a fairy tale: the first sign of a modern fairy tale is the goal setting for the entertainment of listeners, the second sign is an unusual content in everyday life, and finally, the third important sign of a fairy tale is special form its construction.

The dictionary of literary terms gives the following definition of a fairy tale as a genre: A fairy tale is one of the main genres of folk oral and poetic creativity.

Traditionally, there are three types of fairy tales:

1) magical;

2) household;

3) a fairy tale about animals.

Each of these types has its own characteristics.

1. Fairy tales.

Genre challenge: to cause admiration for a good hero and condemn the villain, to express confidence in the triumph of good.

By type of conflict, fairy tales are:

Heroic: the hero fights with magical power;

Social class: the hero is fighting with the master, with the king;

Family (pedagogical): the conflict occurs in the family or the tale is moralizing.

Heroes are divided into: intercessors, villains, sufferers, helpers.

Common features of fairy tales:

The presence of obvious fantasy, magic, miracle (magical characters and objects);

Encounter with magical forces;

Complicated composition;

Extended set of visual and expressive means;

The description dominates the dialog;

Multiple episodes (a fairy tale covers a fairly long period of the hero's life).

Examples of fairy tales are:<<Царевна-лягушка>>, <<Крошечка волке>> and others.

2. Household fairy tales.

Genre challenge: to ridicule the bad character traits of a person, to express joyful surprise with intelligence and resourcefulness.

Household fairy tales are divided into the following types:

anecdotal;

And novelistic:

Satirical anti-bar, anti-royal, anti-religious;

Tales - competitions;

Fairy tales are ridicule;

General features:

It is based on an extraordinary incident within the framework of real human relations (fiction is practically absent);

There is a wonderful assumption, based on, for example, hyperbole:

The hero is so cunning that he can outwit everyone in the world and go unpunished;

Instead of magic, wit is used;

Realism is conditional (real life conflicts receive an extraordinary fabulous resolution);

The acting characters are antagonists;

The goodie is an ironic lucky guy;

The semantic emphasis falls on the denouement;

Widespread use of the dialosha;

Abundance of verbs.

Heron: ordinary people (pop, soldier, man, woman, king, master).

examples of household tales are:<<Каша из топора>>, <<как мужик с барином обедал>>, <<Кому горшок мыть>> and others.

3.Tales about animals.

Genre challenge: ridicule bad character traits, actions, cause compassion for the weak, offended.

By conflict Animal tales depict:

The struggle of predators among themselves;

The struggle of a weak beast with a predator;

The fight between man and beast.

Heroes: animals (features of animals and conditionally human).

Special subgroups:

Tales of fox trickery;

Cumulative (chain tales).

chain fairy tale (cumulative tale, recursive tale, chain tale) - a tale in which dialogue or actions are repeated and developed as the plot develops. The effect of these tales is often based on repetition and characteristic rhyme.

With endless repetition:

Boring tales like "About the white bull."

A unit of text is included in another text (“The priest had a dog”).

With final repetition:

"Turnip" - plot units grow into a chain until the chain breaks.

General features:

The specific composition of the characters (fairy-tale images - traditional types: the fox is cunning, the wolf is stupid):

Anthropomorphism (transfer of mental properties inherent in man and qualities of character to animals);

Conflicts reflect people's real life relationships;

Lightweight composition;

A narrowed set of visual and expressive means;

Extensive use of dialogues;

Abundance of verbs;

Small episodes, speed;

Introduction of small folklore forms.

Examples of fairy tales about animals are:<<Кот, Петух и Лиса>>, <<Лисичка-сестричка и Волк>>,<<Лиса, Заяц и Петух>> ,<<Лиса и Тетерев>> and others.

Russian folk song (genre varieties, poetic style)

Russian folk song - folklore works that are preserved in the people's memory and passed from mouth to mouth, a product of the collective oral creativity of the Russian people.

Most often, a folk song does not have a specific author, or the author is unknown, but folk songs of literary origin are also known. An essential feature of most genres of Russian folk songs is the direct connection of folk songs with everyday life and labor activity (for example, labor songs accompanying various types of labor - burlatsky, mowing, weeding, reaping, threshing, etc., ritual songs accompanying agricultural and family rituals and festivities - carols, Shrovetide, stoneflies, Kupala, wedding, funeral, game calendar, etc.).

In folk versification, there is a certain number of stressed words in a verse (usually three or four words), the number of syllables from stress to stress can be different; as a rule, these are unrhymed poems

Typology

Russian folk songs are divided into:

Song epic

epics (South Russian, Central Russian, Siberian);

northern epic tradition;

historical songs;

fables and buffoons;

songs in fairy tales.

Calendar ritual songs

congratulatory winter (carols, shedrovka, grapes, oats)

Christmas time (see Christmas time);

Shrovetide;

spring (stoneflies, drawing, Easter);

songs of plowing and sowing;

ascension;

Trinity-Semitsky (see Semik, Trinity);

summer (Kupala songs);

milling, mowing, reaping.

Family ritual songs

rites of birth and nurturing (pestushka);

cries and lamentations;

wedding;

lullabies.

With other works of folklore, folk songs bring together their linguistic features: folk verse, repetitions, comparisons, constant epithets, the use of words with diminutive suffixes.

Family ritual songs accompanied by rituals associated with the most important events in a person's life. Wedding songs were sung: bachelorette party songs; glorious songs of the wedding feast; wedding lamentations of the bride. Recruiting songs accompanied the rite of passage to the soldiers. There were also funeral songs, lamentation songs. The wedding ceremony was one of the most difficult. A folk wedding was divided into several stages: the pre-wedding cycle (matchmaking, conspiracy, engagement, bachelorette party), the actual wedding ceremonies (bride's preparations, arrival for the bride, wedding, wedding feast) and post-wedding (offtakes). The bride before the wedding was supposed to lament: to regret the free, girlish life. These are ritual lamentations:

historical song epic and some lyrical-epic works are called, which tell about historical events and episodes from the life of historical persons.

Historical songs are a continuation and development of the epic folk epic. Bylina sings the feats of heroes. Their exaggerated images embody folk ideas about Russian strength, power, and readiness to defend the Motherland. The enemy force appears in the epic as a fantastic, fabulous creature that does not have an unambiguous historical prototype. The historical events of hoary antiquity in epics lose their features of reality.

In historical songs, on the contrary, quite definite historical events are mentioned, specific historical persons are named. Only outstanding events and outstanding historical figures are honored with the people's memory: these are the tsars Peter I, Ivan IV (the Terrible), these are the people's intercessors - the leaders of the peasant uprisings Stepan Razin, Emelyan Pugachev, this is the free Cossack, the brave conqueror of Siberia Ermak Timofeevich ...

Historical songs expressed the feelings of nameless authors in connection with wars, campaigns, popular uprisings. This is a people's assessment of history, its creators, an expression of the soul of the people.

In the 16th century, cycles of songs were formed around Ivan the Terrible and the hero put forward by the people - Yermak. Folk songs show why the king got his nickname. The king is great, his merits are indisputable. At the same time, Ivan the Terrible, on the slightest suspicion, is ready to “execute-hang” his gunners, during punitive campaigns he destroys entire cities, in anger he sends his son to be executed

Songs were sung not only in connection with rituals, but also just for fun: at gatherings, during everyday work. These songs have served the people for centuries to express experiences and feelings, therefore they are called lyrical. IN song folklore lyric songs occupy most. These songs appeared later than the ritual ones. All shades of the spiritual life of the people were embodied in them.

In love songs it was said about the first meetings of lovers, their love joy and longing, fidelity and betrayal. Family songs told of an unhappy wife and a strict or old husband; about a husband who did not marry for love and is now unhappy, all that remains for him is to remember his former love. The young sang about harsh parents, the daughter-in-law - about the unkind mother-in-law.

There were songs of robbers, prison, soldiers, coachmen, burlaks, songs about serf captivity - they helped endure the hardships of life, alleviate mental anguish. Such songs healed the human soul. The singer felt that he was not alone in his grief, that such grief was experienced by many, many people. People's sympathy for the suffering, which was heard in these songs, brought consolation. Here, for example, is the robber's song "Don't make noise, mother green oak tree, Don't bother me thinking...". It is sung in the robber detachment of Vladimir Dubrovsky, it is sung by Pugachev in A. S. Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter". Although the robbers broke many laws, sympathy for their unfortunate lot is heard in the song. It also sings of bravery, and one hears a sad reflection about imminent death, the expectation of a harsh retribution.

The named types of lyrical songs are called in a different way drawling, "voice", "long". All these definitions point to the unhurried, sing-song nature of the song. The main thing in the song is music. It is difficult to convey the content without music, since there is practically no rhyme and the text of the song is not perceived as poetry. The rhythmic pattern appears here only when singing, the singer inserts numerous repetitions, exclamations, interjections into the text, which on the one hand enhances emotionality, on the other hand, emphasizes the rhythm.

Russian epic epic (cyclization, themes, images, poetics)

BYLINA - folklore epic song, a genre characteristic of the Russian tradition. The basis of the plot of the epic is some heroic event, or a remarkable episode of Russian history (hence the popular name of the epic - "old", "old", implying that the action in question took place in the past). The term "epic" was introduced into scientific use in the 40s of the 19th century. folklorist I.P. Sakharov (1807–1863).

Means of artistic expression. Over the course of many centuries, peculiar techniques have been developed that are characteristic of the poetics of the epic, as well as the way they are performed. In ancient times, it is believed that storytellers played along on the harp; later epics were performed in recitative. Epics are characterized by a special purely tonic epic verse (which is based on the commensurability of lines by the number of stresses, which achieves rhythmic uniformity). Although the storytellers used only a few melodies when performing epics, they enriched the singing with a variety of intonations, and also changed the timbre of the voice.

Emphatically solemn style of presentation of the epic narrating about heroic and often tragic events, determined the need to slow down the action (retardation). For this, it is usedsuch a technique as repetition, moreover, not only individual words are repeated: ... eta spit, spit, ... from far, far, marvelous marvelous (tautological repetitions), but also the injection of synonyms: fight-rattling, tribute-duties, (repetitions are synomimic), often the end of one line is the beginning another: And yes, they came to Holy Russia, / To Holy Russia and even near Kiev city ..., there are often three repetitions of entire episodes, going with increased effect, and some descriptions are extremely detailed.Characteristic of the epic and the presence of "common places", when describing situations of the same type are used certain formula expressions: in this way (at the same time in extremely detailed way) the saddle of a horse is depicted: Ay Dobrynya goes out into the wide courtyard, / He is the bridle-saddle of a good horse, / After all, he imposes a braided bridle,. The "common places" also include a description of a feast (for the most part, at Prince Vladimir), a feast, a heroic ride on a greyhound horse. A folk narrator could combine such stable formulas at his own will.

The language of epics is characterized by hyperbole, with the help of which the narrator emphasizes the character traits or appearance of the characters worthy of special mention. Another technique determines the listener's attitude to the epic - an epithet (a mighty, Holy Russian, glorious hero and a filthy, evil enemy), and stable epithets are often found (violent head, hot blood, frisky legs, combustible tears). Suffixes also play a similar role: everything related to heroes was mentioned in diminutive forms (hat, little head, little thought, Aleshenka, Vasenka Buslaevich, Dobrynushka, etc.), but negative characters were called Gloomy, Ignatish, Tsar Batuish, Ugarisch filthy. Considerable place is occupied by assonances (repetition of vowel sounds) and alliteration (repetition of consonants), additional organizing elements of the verse.

Epics, as a rule, are three-part: a sing-along (usually not directly related to the content), the function of which is to prepare for listening to the song; beginning (within its limits, the action unfolds); ending.

It should be noted that certain artistic techniques used in the epic are determined by its theme (for example, antithesis is typical for heroic epics).

Plots of epics. The number of epic plots, despite the many recorded versions of the same epic, is very limited: there are about 100 of them. There are epics based on matchmaking or the hero’s struggle for his wife (Sadko, Mikhailo Potyk, Ivan Godinovich, Danube, Kozarin, Nightingale Budimirovich and later - Alyosha Popovich and Elena Petrovichna, Khoten Bludovich); fighting monsters (Dobrynya and the snake, Alyosha and Tugarin, Ilya and Idolishche, Ilya and Nightingale the Robber); the fight against foreign invaders, including: repelling Tatar raids (Ilya's quarrel with Vladimir, Ilya and Kalin, Dobrynya and Vasily Kazemirovich), wars with Lithuanians (Epic about the arrival of Lithuanians).

Satirical epics or epics-parodies stand apart (Dyuk Stepanovich, Competition with Churila).

The main epic heroes. Representatives of the Russian "mythological school" divided the heroes of epics into "senior" and "junior" heroes . In their opinion, the “elders” (Svyatogor, Danube, Volkh, Potyka) were the personification of elemental forces, epics about them in a peculiar way reflected the mythological views that existed in Ancient Rus'. The “younger” heroes (Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich) are ordinary mortals, heroes of a new historical era, and therefore in minimum degree endowed with mythological features. Despite the fact that serious objections were subsequently raised against such a classification, such a division is still found in the scientific literature.

The images of heroes are the national standard of courage, justice, patriotism and strength (it was not for nothing that one of the first Russian aircraft, which had an exceptional carrying capacity for those times, was called the creators of "Ilya Muromets").

Svyatogor refers to the oldest and most popular epic heroes. His very name indicates a connection with nature. He is great in stature and mighty, his earth bears with difficulty. This image was born in the pre-Kiev era, but subsequently underwent changes. Only two plots have come down to us, initially associated with Svyatogor (the rest arose later and are fragmentary): the plot about the discovery of Svyatogor's bag, which belonged, as specified in some versions, to another epic hero, Mikula Selyaninovich. The bag turns out to be so heavy that the bogatyr cannot lift it; The second story tells about the death of Svyatogor, who meets a coffin on the way with the inscription: “Whoever is destined to lie in a coffin will lie in it,” and decides to try his luck. As soon as Svyatogor lies down, the lid of the coffin jumps up by itself and the hero cannot move it. Before his death, Svyatogor passes on his power to Ilya Muromets, thus the hero of antiquity passes the baton to the new hero of the epic that comes to the fore.

Ilya Muromets, undoubtedly, the most popular hero of epics, a mighty hero. Epos does not know him young, he is an old man with a gray beard. Oddly enough, Ilya Muromets appeared later than his epic younger comrades Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. His homeland is the city of Murom, the village of Karacharovo.

The peasant son, the sick Ilya, "sat on the stove for 30 years and three years." One day wanderers came to the house, “passable kaliks”. They healed Ilya, endowing him with heroic strength. From now on, he is a hero who is destined to serve the city of Kyiv and Prince Vladimir. On the way to Kyiv, Ilya defeats the Nightingale the Robber, puts him in "toroks" and takes him to the prince's court. Of the other exploits of Ilya, it is worth mentioning his victory over Idolishche, which laid siege to Kyiv and forbade begging and commemorating God's name. Here Elijah acts as a defender of the faith.

His relationship with Prince Vladimir is not smooth. The peasant hero does not meet with due respect at the court of the prince, he is bypassed with gifts, he is not put in a place of honor at the feast. The rebellious hero is imprisoned in the cellar for seven years and is doomed to starvation. Only an attack on the city of the Tatars, led by Tsar Kalin, forces the prince to ask for help from Ilya. He gathers heroes and enters the battle. The defeated enemy flees, vowing never to return to Rus'.

Nikitich- a popular hero of the epics of the Kyiv cycle. This hero snake fighter was born in Ryazan. He is the most polite and well-mannered of the Russian heroes, it is not for nothing that Dobrynya always acts as an ambassador and negotiator in difficult situations. The main epics associated with the name of Dobrynya: Dobrynya and the snake, Dobrynya and Vasily Kazemirovich, the Battle of Dobrynya with the Danube, Dobrynya and Marinka, Dobrynya and Alyosha.

Alesha Popovich- originally from Rostov, he is the son of a cathedral priest, the youngest of the famous trinity of heroes. He is bold, cunning, frivolous, prone to fun and jokes. Scientists belonging to the historical school believed that this epic hero originates from Alexander Popovich, who died in the Battle of Kalka, however, D.S. Likhachev showed that the reverse process actually took place, the name of the fictional hero penetrated into the annals. The most famous feat of Alyosha Popovich is his victory over Tugarin Zmeevich. The hero Alyosha does not always behave in a worthy manner, he is often arrogant, boastful. Among the epics about him are Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin, Alyosha Popovich and the sister of the Petrovichs.

Sadko is also one of the oldest heroes, in addition, he is perhaps the most famous hero of the epics of the Novgorod cycle. The ancient story about Sadko, which tells how the hero wooed the daughter of the sea king, subsequently became more complicated, surprisingly realistic details appeared concerning the life of ancient Novgorod.

The bylina about Sadko is divided into three relatively independent parts. In the first, the harpist Sadko, who impressed the king of the sea with the skill of his game, receives advice from him on how to get rich. From that moment on, Sadko was no longer a poor musician, but a merchant, a rich guest. In the next song, Sadko bets with Novgorod merchants that he will be able to buy all the goods of Novgorod. In some versions of the epic, Sadko wins, in some, on the contrary, he is defeated, but in any case he leaves the city because of the intolerant attitude of the merchants towards him. The last song tells about Sadko's journey by sea, during which sea ​​king calls him to her in order to marry his daughter and leave him in the underwater kingdom. But Sadko, having abandoned the beautiful princesses, marries Chernavushka the mermaid, who personifies the Novgorod river, and she takes him to his native shores. Sadko returns to his "earthly wife", leaving the daughter of the sea king. V.Ya.Propp points out that the epic about Sadko is the only one in the Russian epic where the hero goes to the other world (underwater kingdom) and marries an otherworldly creature. These two motifs testify to the antiquity of both the plot and the hero.

Vasily Buslaev. Two epics are known about this indomitable and violent citizen of Veliky Novgorod. In his rebellion against everyone and everything, he does not pursue any goal, except for the desire to run amok and show off. The son of a Novgorod widow, a wealthy citizen, Vasily from childhood showed his unbridled temper in fights with peers. Growing up, he gathered a squad to compete with all of Veliky Novgorod. The battle ends with the complete victory of Vasily. The second epic is dedicated to the death of Vasily Buslaev. Having traveled to Jerusalem with his retinue, Vasily mocks the dead head he met, despite the ban, bathes naked in Jericho and neglects the requirement inscribed on the stone he found (you cannot jump over the stone along). Vasily, due to the indomitability of his nature, begins to jump and jump over it, catches his foot on a stone and breaks his head. This character, in which the unbridled passions of Russian nature are embodied, was M. Gorky's favorite hero. The writer carefully accumulated materials about him, cherishing the idea of ​​writing about Vaska Buslaev, but when he learned that A.V. Amfiteatrov was writing a play about this hero, he gave all the accumulated materials to his fellow writer. This play is considered one of the the best works A.V. Amfiteatrova.

Historical stages of development of the epic. Researchers disagree on when epic songs appeared in Rus'. Some attribute their appearance to the 9th–11th centuries, others to the 11th–13th centuries. One thing is certain - having existed for such a long time, passed from mouth to mouth, epics did not reach us in their original form, they underwent many changes, as the state system, the internal and external political situation, the worldview of listeners and performers changed. It is almost impossible to say in what century this or that epic was created, some reflect an earlier, some a later stage in the development of the Russian epic, and in other epics, researchers distinguish very ancient plots under later layers.

V.Ya.Propp believed that the most ancient plots are related to the matchmaking of the hero and snake fighting. Such epics are characterized by elements that are also significant for a fairy tale, in particular: tripling of plot terms (Ilya, at a crossroads, runs into a stone with an inscription foreshadowing one fate or another, and successively chooses each of the three roads), prohibition and violation of the prohibition (Dobrynya is forbidden swim in the Puchai River), as well as the presence of ancient mythological elements(Volkh, born from a father-serpent, has the gift of reincarnation in animals, Tugarin Zmeevich in different options the epic appears either as a snake, or as a snake endowed with anthropomorphic features, or as a creature of nature, either human or snake; in the same way, the Nightingale the Robber turns out to be either a bird, or a man, or even combines both traits).

The largest number of epics that have come down to us belongs to the period from the 11th to the 13th-14th centuries. They were created in the southern Russian regions - Kyiv, Chernigov, Galicia-Volyn, Rostov-Suzdal. The topic of the struggle of the Russian people with the nomads who raided Kievan Rus, and later with the Horde invaders, becomes the most relevant in this period. Epics begin to group around the plot of the defense and liberation of the Motherland, brightly colored with patriotic feelings. The people's memory has preserved only one name for the nomadic enemy - Tatar, but researchers find among the names of the heroes of epics the names of not only Tatar, but also Polovtsian military leaders. In epics, the desire to raise the people's spirit is noticeable, to express love for home country and furious hatred for foreign invaders, the exploits of the mighty and invincible folk heroes-heroes are praised. At this time, the images of Ilya Muromets, Danube-in-law, Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, Vasily Kazemirovich, Mikhailo Danilovich and many other heroes become popular.

With the formation of the Moscow state, starting from the 16th century, heroic epics gradually fade into the background, buffoons (Vavila and buffoons, Birds) and satirical epics with their sharp social conflicts become more relevant. They describe the exploits of heroes in civilian life, the main characters oppose princes and boyars, and their task is to protect their own family and honor (Sukhman, Danilo Lovchanin), while the ruling strata of society are ridiculed in buffoon epics. At the same time, there is new genre- historical songs, which tell about specific historical events that took place from the 13th to the 19th centuries, there are no fiction and exaggeration characteristic of epics, and in battles several people or an entire army can act as heroes at once.

In the 17th century epics are gradually beginning to supplant the translated chivalric novel adapted for the Russian audience, meanwhile they remain popular folk entertainment. At the same time, the first written retellings of epic texts appear.

Cyclization of epics. Although, due to the special historical conditions in Rus', an integral epic never took shape, scattered epic songs are formed into cycles either around a certain hero, or according to the common area where they lived. There is no classification of epics that would be unanimously accepted by all researchers, however, it is customary to single out epics of the Kyiv, or “Vladimirov”, Novgorod and Moscow cycles. In addition to them, there are epics that do not fit into any cycles.

Kyiv or "Vladimirov" cycle. In these epics, the heroes gather around the court of Prince Vladimir. The prince himself does not perform feats, however, Kyiv is the center that attracts heroes who are called to protect their homeland and faith from enemies. V.Ya.Propp believes that the songs of the Kyiv cycle are not a local phenomenon, characteristic only for the Kyiv region, on the contrary, the epics of this cycle were created throughout Kievan Rus. Over time, the image of Vladimir changed, the prince acquired features that were initially unusual for the legendary ruler, in many epics he is cowardly, mean, often deliberately humiliates the heroes (Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin, Ilya and Idolishche, Ilya's quarrel with Vladimir).

Novgorod cycle. Epics differ sharply from the epics of the "Vladimir" cycle, which is not surprising, since Novgorod never knew the Tatar invasion, but was the largest shopping center ancient Rus'. The heroes of Novgorod epics (Sadko, Vasily Buslaev) are also very different from others.

Moscow cycle. These epics reflected the life of the upper strata of Moscow society. The epics about Khoten Bludovich, Duke and Churil contain many details typical of the era of the rise of the Muscovite state: clothes, customs and behavior of the townspeople are described.

Collection and publication of Russian epics. The first recording of Russian epic songs was made at the beginning of the 17th century. Englishman Richard James . However, the first significant work on collecting epics, which was of great scientific importance, was done Cossack Kirsha Danilov around 40-60 18 century. The collection he collected consisted of 70 songs. For the first time, incomplete recordings were published only in 1804 in Moscow under the title Ancient Russian Poems and for a long time were the only collection of Russian epic songs.

The next step in the study of Russian epic songs was made by P.N. Rybnikov (1831–1885). He discovered that epics were still performed in the Olonets province, although by that time this folklore genre was considered dead. Thanks to the discovery of P.N. Rybnikov, it was possible not only to study the epic epic in depth, but also to get acquainted with the method of its performance and with the performers themselves. The final set of epics was published in 1861–1867 under the title Songs, collected by P.N. Rybnikov. Four volumes contained 165 epics

This was followed by collections by A.F. Gilferding (1831–1872), P.V. Kireevsky (1808–1856), N.E. Onchukov (1872–1942) and others, the material for which was collected mainly in Siberia, in the Middle and Lower Volga regions, on the Don, Terek and Urals (in the Central and Southern regions, the epic epic was preserved in very small sizes).

Russian and Soviet folklore. For the first time, K.F. Kalaidovich tried to comprehend the Russian epic as an integral artistic phenomenon and understand its relationship with the course of Russian history.(1792–1832) in the preface to the second edition he undertook of the collection Ancient Russian Poems Collected by Kirshe Danilov (1818).

According to the representatives of the “mythological school”, to which F.I. Buslaev (1818–1897), A.N. Afanasiev (1826–1871), O.F. derived from older myths. Based on these songs, representatives of the school tried to reconstruct the myths of primitive peoples.

Comparative scientists, including G.N. Potanin (1835–1920) and A.N. Veselovsky (1838–1906), considered the epic to be an ahistorical phenomenon. They argued that the plot, after its inception, begins to wander, changing and enriching itself.

The representative of the "historical school" VF Miller (1848-1913) studied the interaction between the epic and history. In his opinion, historical events were recorded in the epic, and thus the epic is a kind of oral chronicle.

A special place in Russian and Soviet folklore is occupied by V.Ya.Propp (1895–1970). In his innovative works, he combined a historical approach with a structural approach (Western structuralists, in particular K. Levi-Strauss (b. 1909), called him the founder of their scientific method, against which V. Ya. Propp sharply objected).

Epic stories and heroes in art and literature. Ever since the publication of Kirsha Danilov's collection, epic stories and heroes have become firmly established in the world of modern Russian culture. It is not difficult to see traces of acquaintance with Russian epics in the poem Ruslan and Lyudmila by A.S. Pushkin and in the poetic ballads of A.K. Tolstoy.

The images of Russian epics also received a multifaceted reflection in music. Composer A.P. Borodin (1833–1887) created the opera-farce Bogatyri (1867), and gave the name Bogatyrskaya to his 2nd symphony (1876), he used images of the heroic epic in his romances.

N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908), an associate of A.P. Borodin in the “mighty handful” (association of composers and music critics), twice turned to the image of the Novgorod “rich guest”. First, he created the symphonic musical picture Sadko (1867), and later, in 1896, the opera of the same name. It is worth mentioning that the theatrical production of this opera in 1914 was designed by the artist I.Ya. Bilibin (1876–1942).

V.M.Vasnetsov (1848–1926), is mainly known to the public for his paintings, the plots for which are taken from the Russian heroic epic, it is enough to name the canvases The Knight at the Crossroads (1882) and Bogatyrs (1898).

M.A. Vrubel (1856–1910) also turned to epic stories. The decorative panels Mikula Selyaninovich (1896) and Bogatyr (1898) interpret these seemingly well-known images in their own way.

Heroes and plots of epics are precious material for cinema. For example, the film directed by A.L. Ptushko (1900–1973) Sadko (1952), the original music for which was written by the composer V.Ya. spectacular films of their time. And another film by the same director, Ilya Muromets (1956), became the first Soviet widescreen film with stereo sound. Animation director V.V.Kurchevsky (1928–1997) created an animated version of the most popular Russian epic, his work is called Sadko the Rich (1975).

"The Tale of Bygone Years". The main ideas and types of chronicle narrative

"The Tale of Bygone Years". At the beginning of the XII century. (it is believed that around 1113) The "Initial Code" was again revised by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. Nestor’s work received the name “The Tale of Bygone Years” in science, according to the first words of its lengthy title: “Behold the story of the time (past) years, where did the Russian land come from, who in Kiev began first to reign, and from where did the Russian land begin to eat.”

Nestor was a scribe with a broad historical outlook and great literary talent: even before working on The Tale of Bygone Years, he wrote The Life of Boris and Gleb and The Life of Theodosius of the Caves. In The Tale of Bygone Years, Nestor set himself a daunting task: not only to supplement the “Initial Code” with a description of the events at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, of which he was a contemporary, but also to rework in the most decisive way the story about the most ancient period in the history of Rus' - “where is the Russian land has gone.

Nestor introduces the history of Rus' into the mainstream of world history. He begins his chronicle with a biblical legend about the division of the earth between the sons of Noah. Citing a lengthy list of the peoples of the whole world (extracted by him from the Chronicle of Georgy Amartol), Nestor inserts a mention of the Slavs into this list; elsewhere in the text, the Slavs are identified with the "Noriks" - the inhabitants of one of the provinces of the Roman Empire, located on the banks of the Danube. Nestor talks in detail about the ancient Slavs, about the territory occupied by individual Slavic tribes, but in particular detail about the tribes that lived on the territory of Rus', in particular about the "meek and quiet custom" glades, on whose land the city of Kiev arose. Nestor clarifies and develops the Varangian legend of Nikon: the Varangian princes Askold and Dir, mentioned in the "Initial Code", are now declared to be just the boyars of Rurik (besides, "not of his tribe"), and it is to them that the campaign against Byzantium in the time of Emperor Michael is attributed. Having established from documents (texts of treaties with the Greeks) that Oleg was not Igor's governor, but an independent prince, Nestor sets out a version according to which Oleg is a relative of Rurik, who reigned during Igor's youth.

At the same time, Nestor includes in the chronicle some new (compared with the "Initial Code") folk-historical legends, such as the story of Olga's fourth revenge on the Drevlyans, stories about the duel of the young Kozhemyaki with the Pecheneg hero and about the siege of Belgorod by the Pechenegs (we are talking about them will go below).

So, it is to Nestor that The Tale of Bygone Years owes its broad historical outlook, the introduction to the annals of the facts of world history, against which the history of the Slavs unfolds, and then the history of Rus'. It is Nestor who strengthens and improves the version of the origin of the Russian princely dynasty from the “summoned” Norman prince. Nestor is an active supporter of the ideal of the state structure of Rus', proclaimed by Yaroslav the Wise: all princes are brothers and all of them must obey the eldest in the family and occupy the Kiev grand prince's table.

Thanks to the state view, breadth of outlook and literary talent of Nestor, The Tale of Bygone Years was "not just a collection of facts of Russian history, and not just a historical and journalistic work related to the urgent, but transient tasks of Russian reality, but an integral, literary exposition of the history of Rus'" .

It is believed that the first edition of The Tale of Bygone Years has not reached us. Its second edition, compiled in 1117 by the abbot of the Vydubitsky monastery (near Kiev) Sylvester, and the third edition, compiled in 1118 by order of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich, have been preserved. In the second edition, only the final part of The Tale of Bygone Years was revised; this edition has come down to us as part of the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377, as well as other later chronicles. The third edition, according to a number of researchers, is presented in the Ipatiev Chronicle, the oldest list of which - Ipatiev - dates from the first quarter of the 15th century.

Composition "The Tale of Bygone Years". Let us now consider the composition of The Tale of Bygone Years, as it appears before us in the Laurentian and Radzivilov Chronicles.

The introductory part outlines the biblical legend about the division of the earth between the sons of Noah - Shem, Ham and Japhet - and the legend of the Babylonian pandemonium, which led to the division of the "single clan" into 72 peoples, each of which has its own language. Having determined that the “language (people) of Slovenian” is from the tribe of Japheth, the chronicle further tells about the Slavs, the lands they inhabit, about the history and customs of the Slavic tribes. Gradually narrowing the subject of its narrative, the chronicle focuses on the history of the meadows, tells about the emergence of Kyiv. Speaking about the ancient times, when the Kyiv glades were tributaries of the Khazars, The Tale of Bygone Years proudly notes that now, as it was destined for a long time, the Khazars themselves are tributaries of the Kyiv princes.

Precise indications of the years begin in The Tale of Bygone Years from 852, since from that time, according to the chronicler, Rus' is mentioned in the “Greek chronicle”: this year, the Kiev princes Askold and Dir attacked Constantinople. A chronological calculation is also given here - a countdown of the years that have passed from one significant event to another. The calculation of the years from “the death of Yaroslavl to the death of Svyatopolchi” (i.e., from 1054 to 1113) completes the calculation, from which it follows that the Tale of Bygone Years could not have been compiled earlier than the beginning of the second decade of the 12th century.

Further in the annals, the most important events of the 9th century are narrated. - "calling of the Varangians", the campaign against Byzantium Askold and Dir, the conquest of Kyiv by Oleg. The legend about the origin of the Slavic literacy, included in the chronicle, ends with the statement, important for the general concept of The Tale of Bygone Years, about the identity of the “Slovene” and Russian languages ​​- another reminder of the place of glades among Slavic peoples and Slavs among the nations of the world.

In subsequent annalistic articles, Oleg's reign is described. The chronicler cites the texts of his treaties with Byzantium and folk legends about the prince: a story about his campaign against Constantinople, with spectacular episodes, undoubtedly of a folklore nature (Oleg approaches the walls of the city in boats moving under sail on land, hangs his shield over the gates of Constantinople, "showing victory"). There is also a well-known legend about the death of Oleg. The sorcerer predicted the prince's death from his beloved horse. Oleg decided: “Nicole is everywhere on n, I don’t see him more than that.” However, he later learns that the horse has already died. Oleg laughed at the false prediction and wished to see the bones of the horse. But when the prince stepped with his foot on the “forehead” (skull) of the horse, he was stung by a snake that “came out” “from the forehead”, fell ill and died. The chronicle episode, as we know, formed the basis of A. S. Pushkin's ballad "The Song of the Prophetic Oleg."

This tradition is accompanied by a lengthy extract from the Chronicle of George Amartol; reference to the Byzantine chronicle should confirm that sometimes the prophecies of pagan sages turn out to be prophetic, and therefore the introduction of the story of the death of Oleg predicted by the Magi into the annals is not reprehensible for a Christian chronicler.

Oleg was succeeded on the Kiev "table" by Igor, whom the chronicler considered the son of Rurik. Two campaigns of Igor against Byzantium are reported and the text of the agreement concluded by the Russian prince with the Byzantine co-emperors: Roman, Constantine and Stefan is given. Igor's death was unexpected and inglorious: on the advice of his squad, he went to the land of the Drevlyans to collect tribute (usually tribute was collected by his voivode Sveneld). On the way back, the prince suddenly turned to his soldiers: “Go with tribute to the house, and I will return, I will look like it again.” The Drevlyans, having heard that Igor intends to collect tribute a second time, were indignant: “If you drive a wolf (if a wolf gets into the habit) in a sheep, then endure the whole herd, if not kill him, so and so: if we don’t kill him, then we will all be destroyed” . But Igor did not heed the warning of the Drevlyans and was killed by them.

The story of Igor's death in the annals is very short; but in the people's memory, legends have been preserved about how Igor's widow, Olga, took revenge on the Drevlyans for the murder of her husband. These legends were reproduced by the chronicler and are read in the "Tale of Bygone Years" in the article of 945.

After the murder of Igor, the Drevlyans sent ambassadors to Kyiv to Olga with a proposal to marry their prince Mal. Olga pretended that she “loved” the words of the ambassadors, and ordered them to appear the next day, and not on horseback or on foot, but in a very unusual way: by order of the princess, the people of Kiev were to bring the Drevlyans to princely court in the rooks. At the same time, Olga orders to dig a deep hole near her tower. When the triumphant Drevlyansky ambassadors (they sit in the boat “proudly,” the chronicler emphasizes) were brought to the princely court, Olga ordered them to be thrown into the pit along with the boat. Approaching its edge, the princess asked with a grin: “Are you good honor?” “Worse than we (worse for us) Igor's death,” the Drevlyans answered. And Olga ordered them to fall asleep alive in a pit.

The second embassy, ​​consisting of noble Drevlyansk "husbands", Olga ordered to be burned in a bathhouse, where the ambassadors were invited to "wash themselves." Finally, the squad of the Drevlyans, sent to meet Olga, in order to honorably introduce her to the capital of Mala, the princess ordered to be killed during the funeral feast - a memorial feast at the grave of Igor.

A careful examination of the legends about how Olga took revenge on the Drevlyans three times reveals the symbolic meaning of the subtext of the legend: each revenge corresponds to one of the elements of the pagan funeral rite. According to the customs of that time, the dead were buried by placing them in a boat; a bath was prepared for the deceased, and then his corpse was burned, on the day of burial, a feast was arranged, accompanied by war games.

This story about Olga's three revenges was already read in the "Initial Code". Another legend was added to The Tale of Bygone Years - about the fourth revenge of the princess.

Having killed the squad of the Drevlyans, Olga nevertheless could not take their capital - the city of Iskorosten. Then the princess again resorted to cunning. She turned to the besieged, convincing them that she was not going to impose heavy tribute on them, as Igor had once, but asked for an insignificant ransom: three sparrows and three doves from the house. The Drevlyans again did not guess about Olga's deceit and readily sent her the required tribute. Then Olga's warriors, on her orders, tied “tser” (burned tinder, dried tinder fungus) to the paws of the birds and released them. The birds flew to their nests, and soon the whole city was on fire. People who tried to flee were captured by Olga's soldiers. So, according to legend, the princess avenged the death of her husband.

Further, the chronicle tells of Olga's visit to Constantinople. Olga really came to Constantinople in 957 and was received by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. However, the story of how she “switched” (outwitted) the emperor is completely legendary: according to him, Olga was baptized in Constantinople, and Constantine was her godfather. When the emperor invited her to become his wife, Olga objected: “How do you want me to be baptized, having baptized me myself and called me daughter?”

The chronicler of Igor's son, Svyatoslav, enthusiastically depicts his militancy, chivalrous directness (he allegedly warned his enemies in advance: “I want to go to you”), unpretentiousness in everyday life. The chronicle tells about Svyatoslav's campaigns against Byzantium: he almost reached Constantinople and, having conquered the Balkan countries, suggested moving his capital to the Danube, because there, according to him, "there is the middle of the earth", where all the blessings flow - precious metals, expensive fabrics , wine, horses and slaves. But the plans of Svyatoslav were not destined to come true: he died, falling into an ambush of the Pechenegs at the Dnieper rapids.

After the death of Svyatoslav, an internecine struggle broke out between his sons - Oleg, Yaropolk and Vladimir. The winner of it was Vladimir, who in 980 became the sole ruler of Rus'.

In the section "The Tale of Bygone Years", dedicated to the reign of Vladimir, the theme of the baptism of Rus' occupies a large place. The chronicle reads the so-called "Speech of the Philosopher", with which a Greek missionary allegedly turned to Vladimir, urging the prince to accept Christianity. The "Speech of the Philosopher" was of great cognitive importance for the Old Russian reader - it briefly outlined the entire "sacred history" and reported the basic principles of the Christian faith.

Various folk legends were grouped around the name of Vladimir. They were also reflected in the annals - in memories of the generosity of the prince, his crowded feasts, where almost all warriors were invited, about the exploits of unknown heroes who lived during the time of this prince, - about the victory of the kozhemyaka boy over the Pecheneg hero or about the old man, with his wisdom liberated the city of Belgorod from the siege of the Pechenegs. These legends will be discussed below.

After the death of Vladimir in 1015, internecine struggle broke out again between his sons. Svyatopolk - the son of Yaropolk and a captive nun, whom Vladimir, having killed his brother, made his wife, killed his half-brothers Boris and Gleb. The annals read a brief story about the fate of the martyr princes, about the struggle of Yaroslav Vladimirovich with Svyatopolk, which ended in the latter's military defeat and terrible divine retribution. When Svyatopolk, defeated in battle. turned to flight, the demon “attacked” him, “and weakening his bones, he could not sit on horses.” It seems to Svyatopolk that a chase is following him, he hurries his warriors, who carry him on a stretcher. "We are persecuted by God's wrath", Svyatopolk dies in the "desert" (in a remote, uninhabited place) between Poland and the Czech Republic, and from his grave, according to the chronicle, "comes ... the stench of evil." The chronicler takes the opportunity to emphasize that the terrible death of Svyatopolk should serve as a warning to the Russian princes, to save them from the resumption of fratricidal strife. This idea will sound from the pages of the chronicle more than once: both in the story of the death of Yaroslav and in the description of the strife among his sons in the 70s. XI century., And in the story of the blinding of the Terebovl prince Vasilko by his blood brothers - David and Svyatopolk.

In 1037, the chronicle tells about the construction activities of Yaroslav (in particular, about the laying of the famous Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, fortress walls with the Golden Gate, etc.) and his love of books is glorified: the prince "applying to books and honoring them (them) often in the night and in the day." By his order, numerous scribes translated books from Greek "into Slovene (i.e., Russian) writing." Of great importance is Yaroslav's dying testament placed in the article of 1054, urging his sons to live in peace, to protect the land "of their fathers and their grandfathers", which they acquired "by their great labor", to obey the eldest in the family - the Kiev prince.

The weather records in The Tale of Bygone Years alternate with stories and reports, sometimes only indirectly connected with the political history of Rus', which, in fact, the chronicle should be devoted to. Thus, the article of 1051 contains a lengthy story about the founding of the Kiev Caves Monastery. This theme will be continued in The Tale of Bygone Years and further: the article of 1074 tells about the death of the abbot of this monastery Theodosius, episodes of the ascetic life in the monastery of Theodosius himself and other monks are given; the article of 1091 describes the transfer of the relics of Theodosius and praises the saint. In the article of 1068, in connection with the Polovtsian invasion of Rus', the chronicler discusses the causes of the disasters of the Russian land and explains the “finding of foreigners” by divine punishment for sins. The article of 1071 reads a story about an uprising led by the Magi in the Rostov land; At the same time, the chronicler talks about the intrigues of demons and gives two more stories, thematically related to the previous one: about a Novgorodian who divined from a magician, and about the appearance of a sorcerer in Novgorod. In 1093, the Russian princes were defeated by the Polovtsy. This event was the reason for the chronicler's new reasoning about why God "punishes the Russian land", why "weeping in all the streets has become simpler." A dramatic description of the suffering of Russian captives who wander, driven away to a foreign land, “sad, tormented, cordoned off in winter (suffering from the cold), hungry, and thirsty, and in trouble”, with tears saying to each other: “Az beh this city” , "Yaz sowing all (villages) ..." This article, as mentioned above, may have ended the Initial Code.

The last decade of the 11th century was full of stormy events. After internecine wars, the instigator and indispensable participant of which was Oleg Svyatoslavich (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” calls him Oleg Gorislavlich), the princes gather in 1097 in Lyubech for a congress, at which they decide from now on to live in peace and friendship, keep the father’s possessions and do not encroach on other people's inheritances. However, immediately after the congress, a new atrocity happened: the Volyn prince Davyd Igorevich convinced the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich that the Terebovl prince Vasilko was plotting against them. Svyatopolk and Davyd lured Vasilko to Kyiv, captured him and gouged out his eyes. This event shocked all the princes: Vladimir Monomakh, according to the chronicler, complained that there was no such evil in Rus' "neither under our grandfathers, nor under our fathers." In the article of 1097 we find a detailed story about the dramatic fate of Vasilko Terebovskiy; it was probably written specifically for the chronicle and is fully included in its composition.

We do not know exactly how the final part of The Tale of Bygone Years, second edition, looked like. In the Laurentian Chronicle, the text of the article of 1110 is artificially cut off: the chronicler Sylvester's entry immediately follows the story of a miraculous sign in the Caves Monastery, which is regarded as the appearance of an angel; at the same time, in the Ipatiev Chronicle, after the description of the sign, there is a discussion about angels, which, undoubtedly, was included in the original text of the article of 1110, that is, it should have been present in the text of the second edition of The Tale of Bygone Years. In addition, it is not known whether the article of 1110 was the last in this edition: after all, Sylvester’s postscript says that he wrote the “books of the chronicler” in 1116. The question of the relationship between the second edition of The Tale of Bygone Years and the third edition remains controversial. , as well as with what kind of text the second edition of the Tale ended.

"TALE OF TIME YEARS" AND ITS EDITIONS

In 1110-1113, the first edition (version) of the Tale of Bygone Years was completed - a lengthy chronicle that absorbed numerous information on the history of Rus': about the Russian wars with the Byzantine Empire, about the call to Rus' for the reign of the Scandinavians Rurik, Truvor and Sineus, about the history of Kievan- Caves monastery, about princely crimes. The probable author of this chronicle is the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. This edition has not survived in its original form.

The first edition of the Tale of Bygone Years reflected the political interests of the then Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. In 1113, Svyatopolk died, and Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh ascended the throne of Kiev. In 1116, the monk Sylvester (in the Promonomach spirit) and in 1117-1118. unknown scribe from the entourage of Prince Mstislav Vladimirovich (son of Vladimir Monomakh), the text of the Tale of Bygone Years was revised. This is how the second and third editions of the Tale of Bygone Years arose; the oldest list of the second edition has come down to us as part of the Laurentian, and the earliest list of the third - as part of the Ipatiev Chronicle.

Encyclopedia "Round the World"

EDITING THE "TALE OF TIME YEARS"

Having become the prince of Kyiv, Vladimir Monomakh retained his "fatherland" - the principality of Pereyaslavl, as well as Suzdal and Rostov. He recognized the power of Vladimir and Veliky Novgorod, obeying his orders and accepting princes from him. In 1118, Vladimir demanded to himself "all the boyars of Novgorod" to bring them to the oath. He sent some of them back to Novgorod, and “leave others with you.” Under Vladimir, the former military power of the ancient Russian state, weakened by the previous feudal strife, was restored. The Polovtsy suffered a crushing blow, and they did not dare to attack the Russian land ...

One of the measures during the reign of Vladimir Monomakh in Kyiv in 1113 was the correction of Nestor's "Tale of Bygone Years" in order to more correctly cover the reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, hated by the Kyiv working people. Monomakh entrusted this matter to the abbot of the Vydubetsky monastery, Sylvester. The Vydubetsky Monastery was founded by the father of Vladimir Monomakh, Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, and, naturally, he took the side of this prince, and after his death - the side of his son. Sylvester conscientiously fulfilled the task entrusted to him. He rewrote The Tale of Bygone Years and supplemented it with several inserts about Svyatopolk's negative actions. So, Sylvester introduced into the "Tale of Bygone Years" under the year 1097 the story of the priest Vasily about the blinding of Vasilko Rostislavich. Then, in a new way, he outlined the history of the campaign of the Russian princes against the Polovtsians in 1103. Although this campaign was led by Svyatopolk, as a senior prince of Kyiv, with the pen of Sylvester, Svyatopolk was relegated to the background, and Vladimir Monomakh, who really participated in this campaign, but did not lead it, was put in the first place.

The fact that this version could not belong to Nestor, a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, is clear from a comparison with it of a story about the same campaign that is available in the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon, which probably follows the tradition from Nestor himself. In the story “Paterika”, Vladimir Monomakh is not even mentioned, and the victory over the Polovtsy is attributed to one Svyatopolk, who received a blessing before the campaign from the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery.

While editing Nestor's The Tale of Bygone Years, Sylvester did not continue it for a single year, but issued an indication of the authorship of the Kiev-Pechersk monk. Under the same year 1110, Sylvester made the following addition: “Hegumen Sylvester of St. Michael wrote these books, chronicler, hoping from God to receive mercy under Prince Volodimer, who ruled him Kiev, and at that time I was abbess at St. Michael, in the summer of 6624 (1116) indicta 9. And if you read these books, then be in prayers. Since Sylvester's edition received official recognition, it formed the basis of all further Russian chronicle writing and has come down to us in many later chronicle lists. Nestor's text of The Tale of Bygone Years, which remained the property of only the Kiev-Pechersk tradition, has not reached us, although some traces of differences between this text and the Sylvester edition have been preserved, as already mentioned, in separate stories of the later Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. In this "Paterik" there is also an indication of Nestor, who wrote the Russian "chronicler".

In 1118, the Sylvestrian edition of The Tale of Bygone Years was continued, apparently in connection with the inclusion of the well-known Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh written in that year. According to the convincing assumption of M. Priselkov, the addition was made by the son of Vladimir Monomakh Mstislav, who was then in Novgorod. Of great interest among these additions are two stories about the northern countries, heard by the author in 1114, when he was present at the laying of a stone wall in Ladoga. The Ladoga posadnik Pavel told him about the northern countries beyond Yugra and Samoyed. Another story about these countries, heard by the author from the Novgorodian Gyuryata Rogovich, is placed under the year 1096, indicating that he was heard "for the past 4 years." Since both stories are closely related in content, the words “previously 4 years” should be attributed to the time of writing this insert in 1118, when the author heard the first story as well .. Since the original manuscript of Mstislav has not come down to us, but only her later lists, then the only explanation for the resulting confusion may be a random rearrangement of the original sheets from which these lists were then made. Such an assumption is all the more admissible because in the available lists under the year 1096 there is also the "Instruction of Vladimir Monomakh", written no earlier than 1117.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign". Ideological content, art form, connection with folklore.

"Words about Igor's Campaign" was discovered by the famous collector of ancient Russian manuscripts Count A. I. Musin-Pushkin at the end of the 18th century. Since that time, an intensive study of this outstanding monument of ancient Russian literature began.

The researchers analyzed the text of the Lay, its artistic merits, language, considered the ideological concept of the monument, the historical outlook of its author, found out the circumstances of the discovery of the manuscript of the Lay and the principles of its publication. Most of these issues are currently sufficiently deeply and comprehensively studied.

Controversy about the time of writing the Lay.

In the research literature on the "Word" a significant place is occupied by the controversy about the authenticity of the monument or about the time of its creation.

Distrust of the antiquity of the Lay arose after the destruction of the manuscript in a fire in 1812. There were several reasons for the emergence of a “skeptical view” on the antiquity of the Lay. First, at the beginning of the XIX century. scientists knew too little about the literature of Ancient Rus, and therefore the "Word" seemed to them unnaturally perfect for the level of artistic culture of Kievan Rus. Secondly, the obscure, “dark places” of the “Words” were embarrassing, the abundance of incomprehensible words in it, which at first they tried to explain using the material of other Slavic languages. But the main reason for the emergence of distrust in the "Word" was that direction in Russian historiography of the early 19th century, which is called the "skeptical school." Doubt about the authenticity of the "Word" was only a partial episode in this trend: "skeptics" also questioned the antiquity of Russian chronicles, a collection of ancient Russian laws - "Russian Truth", the writings of Cyril of Turov, etc.

In the middle of the XIX century. after the discovery of the Zadonshchina, the oldest of the known lists of which dates back to the end of the 15th century, they ceased to doubt the antiquity of the Lay. However, in the 90s. of the same century, Louis Leger hypothesized that it was not the author of the Zadonshchina who imitated the Lay, but, on the contrary, the Lay is an imitation of the Zadonshchina. This assumption was developed by L. Leger in the works of the French scientist, academician A. Mazon, and later in the works of the Soviet historian A. A. Zimin. A. A. Zimin believed that the Lay was written on the basis of the Zadonshchina in the 18th century. and its author was Joel Bykovsky, the Yaroslavl archimandrite, from whom A. I. Musin-Pushkin acquired a collection with the "Word"

Subsequent studies of the entire sum of issues raised in the hypothesis of A. A. Zimin: the relationship between the Lay and Zadonshchina, the language and style of the Lay, the history of the discovery of the collection and publication of the Lay by A. I. Musin-Pushkin, personality characteristics and creativity of Joil Bykovsky - clearly approved the authenticity and antiquity of the "Word"

Composition "Words".

The “Word” begins with an extensive introduction, in which the author recalls the old singer “Slav” Boyan, wise and skillful, but nevertheless declares that he will not follow this tradition in his work, he will lead his “song” “after the epics of this time , and not according to Boyan's intention.

Having determined the chronological range of his narrative (“from old Vladimer to the current Igor”), the author talks about Igor’s daring plan to “bring” his regiments to the Polovtsian land, “to drink the Don’s helmet”. He, as it were, “tryes on” the poetic manner of Boyan to his theme (“Not a storm, the falcons brought across the wide fields - the Galicians of the herd run to the Great Don” or: “Komoni neigh for Sula - ringing glory in Kiev”).

Genre Words.

The composition of the Lay is unusual for a historical story. We see that the focus of the author is not so much a consistent story about the events of the campaign itself, but rather reasoning about it, assessing Igor's act, thinking about the reasons for the "tightness" and sadness that has engulfed the entire Russian land in the present, addressing the events of the past with his victories and misfortunes. All these features of the Lay lead us to the question of the genre of the monument. This question is all the more important because ancient Russian literature, with its strict system of genres, The Word (like a number of other monuments) appears, as it were, outside the genre system. A. N. Robinson and D. S. Likhachev compare the “Word” with the genre of the so-called “chanson de gesture” - “songs about exploits”, in this case, analogies to it are, for example, “The Song of Roland” or other similar works of Western European feudal epic.

The Lay combines the epic and the literary beginnings. “The epic is full of calls for the defense of the country ... - writes D. S. Likhachev. - Its “direction” is characteristic: the call comes, as it were, from the people (hence the folklore beginning), but it is addressed to the feudal lords - golden word Svyatoslav, and hence the beginning of the book. .

Poetics of the Word.

The poetics of the Lay is so peculiar, its language and style are so colorful and original, that at first glance it may seem that the Lay is completely outside the sphere of the literary traditions of the Russian Middle Ages.

In general, the style of monumental historicism is manifested in the "Lay" in a diverse and profound way. The action of The Lay unfolds over a vast area from Novgorod the Great in the north to Tmutorokan (on the Taman Peninsula) in the south, from the Volga in the east to Galich and the Carpathians in the west. The author of the "Lay" mentions in his appeals to the princes many geographical points of the Russian land, the glory of Svyatoslav extends far beyond its borders - to the Germans, Czechs and Venetians. The protagonists of the Lay see the Russian land as if with "panoramic vision", as if from a great height. Such, for example, is the appeal of Yaroslavna from Putivl not only to the sun and wind, but also to the distant Dnieper, which can cherish her beloved husband from Polovtsian captivity. Yaroslav Osmomysl governs his principality also within emphatically "spatial" boundaries, propping up the Ugrian mountains, "courts rowing up to the Danube." The battle with the Polovtsy itself takes on worldwide proportions: black clouds, symbolizing the enemies of Rus', come from the sea itself.

We have already spoken of the historicism of the Lay, also a characteristic feature of monumental historicism. Both events, actions, and the very qualities of the heroes of the Lay are evaluated against the backdrop of the entire Russian history, against the backdrop of events not only in the 12th, but also in the 11th centuries.

In a word, the author's digressions displace (and deliberately and deliberately displace) the actual course of events, because the author's goal is not so much to tell about them, well known to his contemporaries, as to express his attitude towards them and reflect on what happened. Having understood these features of the plot construction of the Lay, we will see that it makes no sense to argue about at what moment and where exactly the solar eclipse caught Igor and Vsevolod and how accurately the Lay fixes this moment, about whether the Polovtsy collected tribute " white from the yard, ”or how expedient it was to call for help to Igor, Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, who was already striving to intervene in South Russian affairs. The Lay is not documentary, it is epic, it does not so much tell about events as it reflects on them.

Nature is actively involved in the fate of Igor, in the fate of the Russian land: the grass droops from pity, and, on the contrary, joyfully helps Igor, who is escaping from captivity, the Donets and the birds that live in coastal groves.

This does not mean that there is no depiction of nature as such in the Lay. But it is characteristic that in him, as in others ancient Russian monuments, there is no static landscape: the surrounding world appears to the reader in motion, in phenomena and processes. The "Word" does not say that the night is bright or dark - it "fades", the color of the river water is not described, but it is said that "the rivers flow muddy", the Dvina "flows like a swamp", the Sula no longer "flows with silver streams" ; the banks of the Donets are not described, but it is said that the Donets lays green grass for Igor on its silver banks, dresses him with warm fogs under the shade of a green tree, etc.

The time of writing the Lay and the question of its author.

the monument could have been created no later than October 1, 1187 - the time when Yaroslav Osmomysl died, since he is mentioned in the "Word" as alive.

The Word in New Russian Literature.

But in modern times, the Slovo made a huge impression on Russian readers. Russian poets, literally from the very first years after the publication of The Lay, found in it grateful material for imitation and variations on ancient Russian themes, endless attempts began to find the best poetic equivalent to the great monument of antiquity. Of the translations of the 19th century, the best were undoubtedly the translations of V. A. Zhukovsky (positively assessed by A. S. Pushkin), M. D. Delarue, A. N. Maikov, L. Mei; at the beginning of our century, poems based on the motifs of the Lay were created by A. A. Blok, and the Lay was translated by K. D. Balmont. Excellent translations belong to Soviet translators and poets - S. V. Shervinsky, V. Stelletsky, G. Storm, I. Novikov, N. Zabolotsky and others. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is widely known in translations into the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, it was translated into Ukrainian by M. Rylsky, into Belarusian by Y. Kupala, into Georgian by S. Chikovani. There are translations of the "Word" made abroad, the monument has been translated into English, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Spanish, German, Polish, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Finnish, French, Japanese and other languages.

Tale of Tatar-Mongolian invasion in ancient Russian literature. Their patriotic pathos and poetic forms of its expression.

Fairy talesFairy tales to read

The word "fairy tale" appears in written sources around the 16th century, but its meaning is far from the accepted one today. But initially a fairy tale is a list, list or description. The same thing that we used to call a fairy tale, our distant ancestors called "blasphemy". And only in the 11th century, after the baptism of Rus', did the blasphemer lose as its mythological, sacred meaning, and the name itself (the current meaning of the word blasphemy is blasphemy, desecration of a shrine, a crime against religion, faith), having received a new one in return - a fable, which lasted until the 19th century, being replaced in turn by the name of the fairy tale already known to us. Now there are many varieties of fairy tales - literary, folklore, everyday, about animals. But, probably, the most exciting, interesting, beloved ones are fairy tales. The very ones where the wolf can speak in a human voice, the firebird can be caught by hand, and the reward for fearlessness and firmness of spirit will be a wedding with a loved one, and often a kingdom in addition ...

Composition and plot of a fairy tale.

Unlike other types of fairy tales, fairy tales are based on a very clear composition and plot. And also, most often, a recognizable set of some universal “formulas”, by which it is easy to recognize and distinguish it. This is the standard beginning - “We once lived in a certain kingdom in a certain state ...”, or the finale “And I was there, drinking honey-beer ...”, and the standard question-answer formulas “where are you going?”, “You are torturing the case or you are whining from the case,” and others.

Compositionally, a fairy tale consists of exposition (the causes that gave rise to the problem, damage, for example, the violation of some prohibition). Beginning (detection of damage, shortage, loss), development of the plot (search for the lost). Then comes the culmination (battle with evil forces) and denouement (solution, overcoming the problem, usually accompanied by an increase in the status of the hero (accession)). In addition, in a fairy tale, characters are clearly divided into roles. This is a hero, a false hero, an antagonist, a giver, an assistant, a sender, a princess (or a father of a princess). It is not necessary that all of them be present, and each role is played by a separate character, but certain characters are clearly visible in every fairy tale.

The plot of a fairy tale is based on a story about overcoming a certain lack, loss, and in order to overcome the antagonist - the cause of the loss, the hero definitely needs wonderful helpers. But getting such an assistant is not easy - you need to pass the test, choose the right answer or the right path. Well, most often the wedding feast becomes the conclusion, the one at which “I was also drinking honey-beer ...”, and a reward in the form of a kingdom.

Fairy tale is a teacher. What is the lesson?

It is the fairy tale that most often turns to those who are looking for traces of ancient knowledge in ordinary children's fairy tales, carefully stored and passed from mouth to mouth by our distant ancestors. Those same “blasphemers”, teaching, educating, laying in the child the basis of those qualities that were considered necessary and correct. Both knowledge and these qualities were very different for future men and women, although, of course, there is a lot in common. And now, looking closely, it is easy to see that some fairy tales are intended more for girls, while others are for boys. Although these differences, as well as hints of knowledge, have suffered somewhat over the centuries when blasphemers turned into fables, bringing to the fore not a mythological, sacred, but an entertaining and artistic component. But even in these tales that have come down to us, it is easy to find simple universal human values ​​- that it is better to be kind than evil, generous - than greedy, hardworking - than lazy. That evil and deception are eventually punished, and kindness, courage and honesty are rewarded. Perhaps many of these values ​​will be considered obsolete for our world. But how difficult and sad it is to live in a world of deceit and evil. And here fairy tales give us a guiding thread, a ray of light leading to the hope that this is not forever, the time of difficulties will pass, evil will be punished. Naive? May be. But maybe it is smart fairy tales that will help our children make this world a better and kinder place.

Fairy tale as a doctor.

Psychologists, who practice the direction of fairy tale therapy, which is now quite popular, are very fond of turning to a fairy tale. Why? Very simply - it is fairy tales that have a wonderful set of clearly traced roles - it is easy to distinguish a positive hero from a negative one, bad from good, black from white. It is in a fairy tale that it is easy to find a hero "to your liking" - that is, similar to yourself. And then go with him along a long path of trials and return from it different - renewed, wiser. Often not only those who solved a certain problem, overcame a crisis state, but even matured - after all, it is not for nothing that a number of scientists (in particular, V.Ya. Propp, one of the prominent Russian folklorists, French researcher P. Sentive) see in fairy tales a reminder of initiation rituals, rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. By the way, it is the absence of such a rite in our modern culture that some psychologists consider to be the cause of crisis states and even suicidal impulses in adolescence, because initiation is nothing more than a transition to another, adult state through ritual “dying” in the original child status. And a fairy tale can also help to overcome such a crisis.

The Danish psychologist and psychiatrist Bruno Betelheim, who devoted a lot of attention to the fairy tale and its significance for the child, considers the fairy tale to be the most suitable for the perception of the child, and specifically the folk (folk tale). Why? Firstly, the simple language of this fairy tale is understandable to the child, the characters are few and maximally simplified (often they do not even have names). The plot of a fairy tale is as simple as possible, understandable, and not tied to time and space. This helps perception to go beyond the ordinary. In his research, Bruno Betelheim compares the fairy tale with myths and fables that are very similar to it. The conclusion is that neither the myth, which often carries a negative connotation (the death of characters), nor the fables, the morality of which is aimed more at adults, are suitable for children's perception, moreover, they can even suppress the child.

A fairy tale is a great teacher, healer of souls, just a kind and intelligent interlocutor. The meaning of the tale is different for different people and even for the same person in different periods of his life - from early childhood to old age. It is like a priceless treasure, from which everyone will take only what he needs, what he is able to understand, assimilate, appreciate. But the lessons of fairy tales for children are most valuable and necessary.

Fairy tale reflects cultural heritage humanity, for centuries sifting out superficial, unimportant. She carefully keeps the grains of the truly valuable. A fairy tale promotes the development of imagination, fantasy, creativity child, it helps him to look at the world through someone else's eyes - the eyes of a hero, teaching empathy, sympathy, empathy. The heroes of a fairy tale always have a clear moral orientation. There is no place for semitones here. Good or evil, good or bad. It is impossible to stay away. At the same time, the positive hero of a fairy tale is always in a more advantageous, interesting, attractive position, so more often the child identifies himself with him. A positive hero attracts the child to his side - the side of good, thereby instilling in the child a craving for good, for cultivating positive qualities in himself.

Fairy tale

Fairy tale:

1) a kind of narrative, mostly prose folklore ( fabulous prose), which includes works of different genres, in the content of which, from the point of view of folklore carriers, there is no strict reliability. Fairy-tale folklore opposes "rigorous" folklore narrative ( fairy tale prose) (see myth, epic, historical song, spiritual poems, legend, demonological stories, tale, blasphemer, tradition, bylichka).

folk tale

A folklore tale based on a traditional plot refers to prose folklore(fabulous prose). The myth, having lost its functions, has become a fairy tale.

The fairy tale is opposed to the myth as:

1. profane - sacred . The myth is connected with the ritual, therefore the myth, at a certain time and in a certain place, reveals secret knowledge to the initiates;
2. Non-strict certainty - strict certainty . Fairy tale's departure ethnographic myth led to the fact that the artistic side of the myth came to the fore in a fairy tale. The tale was "interested" in the fascination of the plot. The historicity (quasi-historicity) of the myth has become irrelevant for the fairy tale. The events of the fairy tale take place outside the geographic confinement within the framework of the fairy tale geography.

The folk tale has its own specific poetics, which Propp, Vladimir Yakovlevich insisted on establishing. Texts this genre, are built with the help of clichés established by tradition:

1. Fairy tale formulas - rhythmic prose phrases:
   • “Once upon a time ...”, “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state ...” - fabulous initials, beginnings;
   • “Soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done” - median formulas;
   • “And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth” - fairy tale ending, finale;
2. "Common places" - entire episodes wandering from text to text of different fairy tale plots:
   • The arrival of Ivan Tsarevich to Baba Yaga, where prose is interspersed with rhythmic passages:
     • The clichéd description of the portrait is "Baba Yaga, a bone leg";
     • Cliched formulaic questions and answers - “where are you going, the road”, “stand facing me, back to the forest”, etc .;
   • A clichéd description of the scene: “on the viburnum bridge, on the currant river”;
   • A clichéd description of actions: moving the hero on a “flying carpet”;
   • General folklore epithets: “beautiful girl”, “good fellow”.

A folklore fairy tale meets three requirements of folklore existence (general folklore features):

1. Orality.
2. Collectivity.
3. Anonymity.

Folk tale classification

The folklore tale has intra-genre varieties. In the science of fairy tales, there is a problem of classifying fairy tale genres. In the "Comparative Index of Plots: An East Slavic Fairy Tale", created on the basis of a reference book on the Aarne system, in which the European, and then, in subsequent editions of Stit Thompson (Thompson Stith) (see Index of Plots of a Folk Tale), a fairy tale of the peoples of the World, are presented the following folklore genres:

1. Tales about animals, plants, inanimate nature and objects.
2. Magic tales.
3. Legendary tales.
4. Novelistic (everyday) fairy tales.
5. Tales of the Fooled Devil.
6. Jokes.
7. Fables.
8. Cumulative tales.
9. Boring tales.

Many folklorists (V. Ya. Propp, E. V. Pomerantseva, Yu. I. Yudin, T. V. Zueva) distinguish two genre formations in the composition of the genre variety "Everyday Tales": short stories and anecdotal tales. Novelistic tales are found not only in the section "Novellistic tales", but also in the section "Magic tales". And anecdotal tales include plots from the "Tales of the Fooled Devil" group, many plots classified as anecdotes, some plots included in the novelistic tales section, and some plots classified as fairy tales.

In fairy-tale folklore it is not always possible to draw a clear line between fairy-tale genres. So, a legendary fairy tale can be told as a legend, and alterations of epics can be attributed to a special genre group "Bogatyr's Tale". A change in the attitude towards reality of folklore carriers changes the affiliation of the narrative to one or another folklore epic type.

Genre varieties of fairy tales

Animal Tale

Animal Tale(animal epic) is a collection (conglomeration) of different genre works of fairy folklore (fairy tale), in which animals, birds, fish, as well as objects, plants and natural phenomena act as the main characters. In fairy tales about animals, a person either 1) plays a secondary role (the old man from the fairy tale “The Fox steals fish from the cart (sleigh”)), or 2) occupies a position equivalent to the animal (the man from the fairy tale “Old bread and salt is forgotten”).

Possible classification of the fairy tale about animals.

First of all, the animal tale is classified according to the main character (thematic classification). Such a classification is given in the index of fairy-tale plots of world folklore compiled by Aarne-Thomson and in the "Comparative Index of Plots. East Slavic Fairy Tale":

1. Wild animals.
   • Fox.
   • Other wild animals.
2. Wild and domestic animals
3. Man and wild animals.
4. Pets.
5. Birds and fish.
6. Other animals, objects, plants and natural phenomena.

The next possible classification of the animal tale is the structural-semantic classification, which classifies the tale according to genre. There are several genres in the fairy tale about animals. V. Ya. Propp singled out such genres as:

1. A cumulative animal tale.
2. Magic fairy tale about animals
3. Fable (apologist)
4. satirical tale

E. A. Kostyukhin singled out genres about animals as:

1. Comic (household) fairy tale about animals
2. Magic fairy tale about animals
3. Cumulative Animal Tale
4. Novelistic fairy tale about animals
5. Apologist (fable)
6. Joke.
7. Satirical tale about animals
8. Legends, traditions, everyday stories about animals
9. Fables

Propp, in the basis of his classification of the fairy tale about animals by genre, tried to put a formal sign. Kostyukhin, on the other hand, partly based his classification on a formal feature, but basically the researcher divides the genres of fairy tales about animals according to content. This allows a deeper understanding of the diverse material of the fairy tale about animals, which demonstrates the variety of structural constructions, the diversity of styles, and the richness of content.

A third possible classification of animal tales is that of the target audience. Allocate fairy tales about animals to:

1. Children's fairy tales.
   • Fairy tales told for children.
   • Tales told by children.
2. adult stories.

This or that genre of fairy tale about animals has its own target audience. The modern Russian fairy tale about animals mainly belongs to the children's audience. Thus, fairy tales told for children have a simplified structure. But there is a genre of fairy tale about animals that will never be addressed to children - this is the so-called. "Mischievous" ("cherished" or "pornographic") tale.

About twenty plots of animal tales are cumulative tales ( Recursive). The principle of such a composition is the repeated repetition of a plot unit. Thompson, S., Bolte, J. and Polivka, I., Propp identified fairy tales with cumulative composition as a special group of fairy tales. Cumulative (chain-like) composition is distinguished:

1. With endless repetition:
   • Boring tales like "About the white bull."
   • A unit of text is included in another text (“The priest had a dog”).
2. With Final Repetition:
   • "Turnip" - plot units grow into a chain until the chain breaks.
   • “The cockerel choked” - the chain is untwisted until the chain breaks.
   • "For a rolling pin duck" - the previous unit of text is denied in the next episode.

Another genre form of the animal tale is the structure of a fairy tale (see below for the structure) ("The Wolf and the Seven Kids" SUS 123, "The Cat, the Rooster and the Fox" SUS 61 B).

The leading place in fairy tales about animals is occupied by comic tales - about the tricks of animals ("A fox steals fish from a sleigh (from a wagon) SUS 1, "Wolf at the hole" SUS 2, "The fox smears his head with dough (sour cream) SUS 3," The beaten unbeaten one is lucky "SUS 4, "The Midwife Fox" SUS 15, etc.), which influence other fabulous genres of the animal epic, especially the apologist (fable). The plot core of a comic fairy tale about animals is a chance meeting and a trick (deception, according to Propp). Sometimes several meetings and tricks are combined (contamination). The hero of a comic tale is trickster(one who does tricks). The main trickster of the Russian fairy tale is the fox (in the world epic - the hare). Its victims are usually a wolf and a bear. It has been noticed that if the fox acts against the weak, it loses, if against the strong, it wins (Dm. Moldavsky). It comes from archaic folklore. In the modern animal tale, the victory and defeat of the trickster often receives a moral assessment. Trickster in a fairy tale is opposed dupe. It can be a predator (wolf, bear), and a person, and a simpleton animal, like a hare.

A significant part of animal tales is occupied by an apologist (fable), in which there is not a comic principle, but a moralizing, moralizing one. At the same time, the apologist does not have to have a moral in the form of an ending. Morality follows from the plot situations. Situations must be unambiguous in order to easily form moral conclusions. Typical examples of an apologist are fairy tales where contrasting characters collide (Who is more cowardly than a hare? AT 70; Old bread and salt is forgotten AT 155; A thorn in the paw of a bear (lion) AT 156. An apologist can also be considered such plots that were known in a literary fable from ancient times (Fox and sour grapes AT 59; Crow and fox AT 57 and many others). Apologist is a relatively late form of animal tales. Refers to the time when moral standards have already been determined and are looking for a suitable form for themselves. In fairy tales of this type only a few plots with trickster tricks were transformed, part of the plots of the apologist (not without the influence of literature) he developed himself.The third way for the development of the apologist is the growth of paremia (proverbs and sayings. But unlike paremia, in the apologist the allegory is not only rational, but also sensitive.

Next to the apologist is the so-called short story about animals, singled out by E. A. Kostyukhin. A short story in an animal tale is a story about unusual cases with a fairly developed intrigue, with sharp turns in the fate of the characters. The trend towards moralization determines the fate of the genre. It has a more definite morality than in the apologist, the comic beginning is muted, or completely removed. The mischief of the comic fairy tale about animals is replaced in the short story with a different content - entertaining. A classic example of a novelistic tale about animals is AT 160 "Grateful Beasts". Most of the plots of a folklore short story about animals are formed in literature, and then pass into folklore. The easy transition of these plots is due to the fact that the literary plots themselves are formed on a folklore basis.

Speaking about satire in fairy tales about animals, it must be said that literature once gave impetus to the development of a satirical fairy tale. The condition for the appearance of a satirical tale occurs in late middle ages. The satirical effect folk tale is achieved by the fact that social terminology is put into the mouths of animals (Fox confessor AT 61 A; Cat and wild animals AT 103). The plot of AT 254 ** "Yorsh Ershovich", which is a fairy tale of book origin, stands apart. Having appeared late in a folk tale, satire did not take root in it, as in a satirical tale one can easily remove social terminology. So in the 19th century, a satirical tale is unpopular. The satire within the animal tale is only an accent in an extremely small group of animal stories. And the laws of the animal fairy tale with trickster tricks influenced the satirical tale. The satirical sound was preserved in fairy tales, where the trickster was in the center, and where there was a complete absurdity of what was happening, then the fairy tale became a fiction.

Fairy tale

The plot of a fairy tale is based on a story about overcoming a loss or shortage, with the help of miraculous means, or magical helpers. The exposition of the tale tells about all the reasons that gave rise to the plot: the prohibition and violation of the ban on some actions. The plot of the story is that main character or the heroine discovers a loss or shortage.

The development of the plot is a search for the lost or missing.

The climax of the fairy tale is that the protagonist or heroine fights an opposing force and always defeats it (the battle equivalent is solving difficult problems that are always solved).

Resolution is overcoming a loss or lack. Usually the hero (heroine) at the end "reigns" - that is, acquires a higher social status than he had at the beginning.

• antagonist (pest)
• donor
• assistant
• princess or her father
• sender
• hero
• false hero.

novelistic fairy tale

novelistic fairy tale has the same composition as the fairy tale, but has a qualitative difference with it. In a fairy tale of this genre, unlike a fairy tale, truly miraculous events take place (the worker defeats the devil). In the novelistic tale, there is a trickster - a man. He is from the people's environment, he fights for justice with the powers that be and achieves this.

anecdotal tale

anecdotal tale, distinguished by A. N. Afanasiev, differs from an anecdote in that a fairy tale is a detailed narrative of an anecdote.

fiction

Fables These are fairy tales built on absurdity. They are small in volume and often have the form of rhythmic prose. They are also called formula tales when they are inserted into the text of large tales. Their function is to captivate the upcoming fairy tale. Fables are special genre folklore, which is found among all peoples as an independent work or as part of a fairy tale, buffoon, bylichka, bylina.

Collecting fairy tales

The collection of fairy-tale folklore began after the representatives of the German mythological school in folklore, the Brothers Grimm published a collection of German fairy tales. In Russia, the Russian ethnographer A. N. Afanasyev was the initiator of collecting Russian folk tales. A great contribution to the collection and organization of children's folklore was made by such personalities as Avdeeva E.A., Dal V.I. In the history of collecting children's folklore, the ethnographer-collector PV Shane left a noticeable mark. He singled out children's folklore as a special field of science. A contribution to the popularization and collection of fairy tales was made by the Ukrainian poet Malkovich, I.A.

Origin (genesis) and development of fairy tales

mythological tale

Folklore tales originate from the totemic myths of primitive communal society (primitive peoples of North Asia, America, Africa, Australia and Oceania). Primary, archaic tales are called archaic or mythological. The carriers of archaic folklore themselves distinguish them from the mythological narrative. Usually there are two forms: puffed up And flickered- among the Chukchi, hwenoho And heho- u background (Benin), liliu And kukvanebu- at the Kirivna in Melanesia, etc. These two main forms approximately correspond to myth and fairy tale. The difference between them expresses the opposition sacred And profane, the profane is often the result deritualization and losses of an esoteric nature. A structural difference was not necessarily between the two forms, it might not have existed at all. Very often one and the same or a similar text could be interpreted by one tribe as a true myth, and by another as a fairy tale narration excluded from the ritual-sacred system. One can define archaic tales as non-strict myths, given that they include mythological representations. F. Boas notes that the only difference between the archaic tale and the myth of the Indians of North America is that culture hero produces benefits for himself, and not for the team. The non-strict authenticity of an archaic tale entails the predominance aesthetic function above informative(the purpose of the archaic tale is entertainment). So exoteric myth, told to the uninitiated for the purpose of general entertainment, is on the way of turning a myth into a fairy tale.

The archaic tale not only perceives mythological motifs about snake fighting; about marrying a "totem" animal in order to obtain benefits for the community; the hero's journey to the realm of the dead; the flight of children from an evil being, ascending to initiatory rites; but also creates his own hero - offended orphan. The appearance of this hero is caused by a change in social ideas in a primitive communal society. It can be considered that in the primitive communal tale a "protest" is expressed against the change in the state of things: endogamy and exogamy are collapsing, matriarchy and primitive communal society are collapsing. Orphan is younger brother, who was left deprived by his older brothers, after the death of his parents, an orphan is a stepdaughter, a stepson for a woman who is married to a father from a tribe that did not previously participate in the marriage exchange. "Family" themes and interest in personal fate appear in an archaic tale. However, the image of an orphan initially goes back to the initiation rite, where the initiate must look plain before the test. Having passed the test, through the symbolic devouring by the monster, the initiate was transformed. The dominance of the wedding motive in the archaic tale is the result for the sake of which the initiation of boys and girls took place in the myth. Marriage became the goal of an archaic tale, became a compensation for the socially disadvantaged.

In the bowels of the archaic fairy tale, where zoomorphic cultural heroes acted, many narrative folklore genres matured, among which were a fairy tale, a fairy tale about animals (see also Epos). In Koryak folklore, Raven travels through several layers of the Earth, descending lower and lower (motifs of a fairy tale). For a fairy tale, plots with mythological motifs, plots of "family" themes and personal fate have become productive (an offended orphan receives a higher social status). However, what has become productive for the fairy tale is not productive for the animal tale. For a fairy tale about animals, plots based on the rivalry of two characters, resolved by a trick (trickster content), are productive. There may be one trick in an archaic tale, but there may also be a chain of tricks: someone starts to do something, he does it, but then, realizing that he was deceived, he makes a counter trick. The rivalry of two animals, because of which one, stupid, unsuccessfully imitates the other, the trick of the cunning over the limited, the mockery of one over the other - these themes, constantly sounding in the myths of phratric enmity, then firmly enter the fairy tale about animals and practically form it. Most of the plots of the future fairy tale about animals are archaic anecdotes about the failures of a cultural hero that arose after the destruction of matriarchy, that is, after the collapse of former beliefs.

classic fairy tale

The classical fairy tale was formed far beyond the borders of primitive communal society, in a class society. Already in ancient Egypt there were: a fairy tale about animals, a fairy tale, a household fairy tale.

Notes

Literature

Animal Tale

• Kostyukhin E. A. Types and forms of the animal epic. Moscow, 1987

Cumulative tale

• Propp V. Ya. Cumulative fairy tale // Propp V. Ya. Folklore and reality. M., 1986. S. 242-249.
• Rafaeva A. V. The study of cumulative fairy tales: formal and typological aspects // Living antiquity. 2002. No. 1. S. 50–52.

Fairy tale

• The structure of a fairy tale (collection of articles) / Ed. Yu. S. Neklyudova. Moscow, 2001 ISBN 5-7281-0373-1
• A. V. Korotich. Modern Russian fairy tale for children.

Household fairy tales

• Yudin Yu. I. Fool, jester, thief and devil (Historical roots of everyday fairy tales). - Moscow, 2006. ISBN 5-87604-148-3

Children's fairy tale

• Kapitsa F. S. Russian children's folklore: Textbook for university students / Kapitsa F. S., Kolyadich T. M. - Moscow, 2002.

Indexes of fairy tale plots

• Comparative index of plots. East Slavic fairy tale. Online.

Fairy tales are one of the most interesting and amazing genres of literary creativity. This, one might say, is our heritage, which we inherited from our ancestors. As before, now fairy tales play big role in the development of the child, his formation of the perception of human values.

General information about fairy tales

The appearance of fairy tales among the people was due to the fact that people tried to find an explanation for certain natural phenomena, the origin of which was unclear to them, and also told about their life and rituals in this way. Of course, fantasy was also connected to this. So folk tales have some reflection historical development nationalities.

How did magic appear in fairy tales? was a reflection of desires for a happy resolution of the situation, for the victory of good over evil. Each image in the fairy tale is deeply symbolic. In some nations, even the characters are similar, only they are called differently. For example, the Russian Baba Yaga and the old woman Loukhi from Finland. Or our Ivan the fool and the Englishman Jack the lazy. Even the stories are very repetitive.

Also in a fairy tale, magical things were indispensable attributes. For example, a self-assembled tablecloth, a flying carpet or Baba Yaga's stupa.

Who could compose a fairy tale? In the distant past, these were those people who traveled a lot, and therefore saw and heard a lot. They talked about what they learned. Then these stories gradually changed, the spirit of fantasy was introduced.

Over time, their stories became fairy tales for children. What the great-grandfathers considered true, turned into a legend. But in the end, they had a positive impact on the child's correct understanding of the world.

The influence of fairy tales on the upbringing of children

Fairy tales are about educating children. Many generations have grown up with such figurative battles between good and evil. Perceiving Magic world such stories, the child is immersed in a special atmosphere. With an easy and entertaining language, the child perceives the world and adapts to it. Easily perceives the system of correct values, relations between people.

Required happy end fairy tales allows you to realize that everything is possible, while the kid on a subconscious level gains confidence in himself, in his abilities.

Magical folk tales are also great for developing fantasy. Very often, the child identifies with one of the characters and throughout the reading goes through his path of adventure with him.

Plots of fairy tales

Folk fairy tales are different in their plot, according to which they can be divided into several groups:

• those in which the hero miraculously defeats a monster (usually the Serpent Gorynych);
• fairy tales where you need to pass some kind of test;
• those where children are saved from some villain;
• fairy tales in which the hero is expelled from own house, turns out to be either in captivity fabulous creature, or simply goes "where the eyes look";
• those where some kind of test should be overcome in order to find family happiness;
• fairy tales where the hero acquires some kind of magical item.

Of course, the classification is very arbitrary, since in some fairy tales the plots are intertwined, some cannot be clearly attributed to any type at all.

Folk tales: what are they

In addition to fairy tales in folk art, there are everyday stories about animals. What are the differences between them?

If we talk about fairy tales, then, as mentioned above, these are those in which there is some kind of miraculous salvation, deliverance, victory.

In everyday life, it is told about work, about those daily events that occur in a person's life. They may also have a little magic in them, but they usually overcome difficulties with the help of ingenuity and resourcefulness.

There are also stories about animals. The latter in them, like people, can talk, and behave the same way. Each of the animals has its own special features. For example, a fox is cunning, a hare is cowardly, a bear is strong.

Fairy tales that have authorship

There are also numerous Russian fairy tales, the author of which is famous, and they are no less popular and loved by children. They preserve the purity and justice of folk art. Remember the names of the authors who gave us fairy tales. This:

• Pushkin A.S. Tsar Saltan" and others);
• Bazhov P.P. ("Tayutkino Mirror", "Malachite Box", etc.);
• Zhukovsky V.A. ("The Sleeping Princess", "Puss in Boots", etc.);
• Aksakov S.T. ("The Scarlet Flower").

But of course, these are just some of the magical ones which are the most popular. In Russian art there are a lot of authors who wrote amazing stories for children of all ages. Very often they were based on legends, in other cases they were fictions of the writer himself.

Popular folk tales for children of different ages

Every fairy tale has its own audience. For example, some are suitable for kids of three years of age, but will not be interesting for seven-year-old children. Consider popular fairy tales. The list includes these:

• For younger children, fairy tales about animals will be more understandable. For example, "Turnip", "Kolobok", "Teremok", "Masha and the Bear".
• For older children (5 years and older), Morozko, Frog Princess, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Swans Geese, Daughter and Stepdaughter are already suitable.
• For children over 8-9 years old, everyday fairy tales are understandable. For example, "Seven-year-old daughter", "Porridge from an ax", "It's good, but it's bad", "It's not nice - don't listen."

However, this is all individual. When reading a fairy tale to a child or inviting him to do it himself, the parent must be prepared for possible questions from his child. If he refuses to perceive the fairy tale at all - do not be discouraged! Perhaps the child is simply not yet ready to read this work.

Fairy tales of the peoples of the world

Magical folk tales can serve as a description of history. Sometimes they are quite funny. However, every fairy tale of any nation teaches something. For example, nobility, courage, honor.

Some fairy tales of different nationalities are similar to each other, although they have different names. The characters are also different, but their traits and behaviors are the same. For example, many peoples have a fairy tale with a plot about three brothers or about a poor stepdaughter and an evil stepmother.

We suggest taking note of the most popular fairy tales in the world. Their names sound like this:

• "Goldilocks" (Czech);
• "Magic Ring" (Italian);
• "The Witch's Daughter" (Greek);
• "Twelve months" (Slovak);
• "Musician-sorcerer" (Belarusian);
• "Princess Frog" (Monskaya);
• "Three princes" (Indian).

As you can see, some names are very similar to Russian fairy tales.

Russian folk fairy tales: characters

Russian fairy tales tell about both positive and negative characters, both about men and about women. Good heroes can be said to be noble, brave and honest. This, for example, is Ivan Tsarevich or Ivan the Fool, who will definitely defeat the enemy and help in trouble.

There is also a special attitude in fairy tales towards women. They are often strong in spirit, support their men, giving them strength to fight with their boundless faith. Also, many of them are endowed with remarkable intelligence and ingenuity, they may have a difficult share, but they never lose hope. The names of women often have a definition that can tell a lot. For example, Elena the Beautiful or Vasilisa the Wise.

Fairy tales are also a world of faithful animal helpers, who often help the main character and have some power. This may be a faithful horse, a cunning cat or others. All of them can speak, move quickly.

The magical world is also rife with negative characters. It can be the well-known Baba Yaga, or the Serpent Gorynych, or each of them has its own power and with its help harms people. Serpent Gorynych, for example, kidnaps beautiful girls and locks them in a dungeon, Baba Yaga eats little children.

In addition, there are other negative characters who harm the environment to the best of their ability. These are water, goblin, kikimora, mermaids. Some can induce haze, drag them into the water.

Separate characters are heroes. They appear most often in snake-fighting fairy tales. The heroes free the enchanted and stolen princesses and maidens.

A few words about the importance of books in a child's life

Remember also that it is equally important for a child to see how the parents themselves pick up books, their own, adults, and read them with pleasure. It is important to show kids your faith in a miracle, in justice.

Origin of fairy tales. Invention specific. ancient motives. Plot types. Experience in subject classification. Poetics and style. Composition. Space and time. style formulas. Contamination. Image system. Themes, images, meaning of the most common fairy tales.

A fairy tale is a story about extraordinary events and adventures involving unrealistic characters. Wonderful, fantastic events take place in it. Fairy tales of this type arose as a result of a poetic rethinking of the oldest stories about the observance of taboos - everyday prohibitions for various occasions, created in order to escape from the power of a mysterious evil force. There must have been tales of taboo breaking and the unfortunate events that followed.

In fairy tales, we see echoes of prohibitions - eating unknown food or drinking from unknown sources, as well as leaving the house, touching certain objects. Violating his sister's prohibition, brother Ivanushka drinks water from the trace of a goat's hoof and turns into a goat. Having violated the parents' prohibition to leave the house, the sister leaves with her little brother to the clearing, and he is carried away by swan geese to Baba Yaga's hut. Forget about the ban gray wolf touch the cage of the firebird and the bridle of the golden-maned horse, Ivan Tsarevich gets into trouble.

The invention of a fairy tale is specific. Everything in it is unusual, and the question of the probability, the reliability of the narrative is completely removed. In a fairy tale of this type, there are motifs containing belief in witchcraft, in the existence of the other world and the possibility of returning from there, into werewolf - the transformation of people into a river or lake, all kinds of animals and even into a church, as, for example, in the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Wise and the Sea King ".

Some fairy tales are associated with mythological representations. Such characters as Morozko, the Sea or Water King, the wonderful sons-in-law the Sun, the Month, the Wind or the Eagle, the Falcon and the Raven are clearly associated with the deification of the forces of nature and the veneration of the totem beast. The cult of ancestors is revealed in the form of a wonderful doll, which the dying mother gives to Vasilisa. The doll helps the orphan to resist the intrigues of her stepmother and saves her from Baba Yaga.

Thus, fairy tales have retained the once real features of long-vanished ideas, life phenomena, traces of lived through human epochs, which are now perceived by us as fantasy, fiction. For example, in the images of the wise virgins Vasilisa the Wise, Marya Morevna, Elena the Beautiful, who have supernatural abilities and help the hero, the ideas of the era of matriarchy about the superiority of a woman over a man are clearly revealed. The motives for human sacrifice are visible, for example, in the tales of the Snake that kidnaps girls; witchcraft and cannibalism - in the tales of Baba - Yaga. These and other fairy-tale motifs are an echo of a long-forgotten reality, but in fairy tales they are not perceived as a story about the past. They form that wonderful fantasy world in which fairy tale characters live.

The fantasy of a fairy tale was also shaped by dreams turned to the future. The story is ahead of reality. Dreaming of fast movement on the ground, a man in a fairy tale creates walking boots. He wants to fly through the air - he creates a flying carpet. He wants to always be full - and in the fairy tale there appear a tablecloth-self-collection, a wonderful mill, a pot that can boil any amount of porridge on order.

Fairy tales are a complex genre in terms of their plot structure. They include heroic tales about the hero's struggle with enemies, stories about the search for curiosities, obtaining a bride, stories about a stepdaughter and stepmother, and others. In the index of fairy tale plots by A. Aarne, one can find 144 plots known in Russian fairy tales. In addition, the Russian scientist N.P. Andreev found another 38 plots unknown to the folklore of other peoples. Russian researcher of fairy tales V.Ya. Propp identified the following types of plots:

1. The struggle of the hero with a wonderful opponent.

2. Release from captivity or witchcraft of the bride (wife) or groom.

3. About a wonderful helper.

4. About a wonderful item that helps the hero achieve his goal.

5. About the miraculous power or unusual skill of the hero.

6. Other types of plots not included in the previous sections.

As a rule, the plot of a fairy tale begins with an intriguing plot, an unusual event: for example, in the fairy tale “Three Kingdoms”, the plot of a fairy tale action begins with the fact that a whirlwind flew into the garden where the queen is walking, grabbed her and carried her away no one knows where. The plot emphasizes the unusual nature of what is happening, shows that we will talk about the wonderful adventures of the heroes. The plot of each fairy tale is unique. Its distinguishing feature is multi-event. The tale describes a rather long period in the tense and dramatic life of the hero. The hero of the fairy tale goes through a series of trials, performs difficult tasks.

In different fairy tales, the same motifs, or the most frequently occurring episodes, occur. For example, the motive for excommunicating the hero from home for any reason, the motives for difficult assignments, the search for a kidnapped wife or bride, competition with the enemy, the motive for fleeing from the enemy, the assistance of wonderful helpers or objects. With everything plot difference the structure of fairy tales is the same: the motifs are strictly sequential, each preceding motif explains the next one, prepares the main, culminating event. Usually the most significant motif in a fairy tale can be repeated three times. Repetition slows down the plot action, but fixes the listeners' attention on an important moment.

The composition of the fairy tale can be characterized as circular and one-line. Conventionally, the sequence of actions can be conveyed by the scheme: the hero leaves the house to perform feats or for adventures - feats or adventures - return. This creates a closed action, a circular composition. Highlighting the hero at the beginning of the story, the tale connects all actions with him, the whole chain of fairy-tale events refers to him. We will not find a single episode where the main character would be absent. Such a construction is called unilinear.

specific feature fairy tale is an image of a special fairy tale space and time in which the hero's actions are performed. The artistic space of a fairy tale is limited from the real. It is clearly divided into its own - "a certain kingdom, a certain state", in which the hero lives, and someone else's, another - "a faraway kingdom, a faraway state", in which the hero passes tests and accomplishes feats. The border between them is always some kind of obstacle. It can be a dark forest, a fiery river, a sea, a mountain, a well, a deep pit, which the hero needs to be able to overcome in order to get from "his" into the "other" kingdom.

artistic time fairy tale is a special fairy tale time that does not coincide with the real one either in its length or in its character. It is always referred to an indefinitely distant past. It is conditional, surreal. It is never measured in years, but only in events. The hero of a fairy tale never gets old. About his life until the moment he leaves home to perform his exploits, it is narrated very briefly. Only from the moment the hero leaves the house does the countdown begin, and then the time is determined only by the events that the fairy tale tells about. Fairytale time always consistently moves forward, into the future, never returning to the hero's past. It is clearly divided into travel time and event time.

To indicate the time of the hero on the road, special artistic formulas are used, for example: "soon the fairy tale is told, but the deed is not done soon." Use verbs of motion that are repeated 2-3 or more times. More repetitions means more travel time. “Ivan Tsarevich is coming, coming, coming…” means that he goes for a very long time. The length of the path can be transmitted by a state of fatigue, hunger, thirst, wear of clothes and shoes.

The world of fairy tale characters is unusually diverse. The central place in the system of images is occupied by goodies endowed with ideal physical and moral qualities. In turn, they are divided into the following groups: the hero-hero, the hero-lucky and the hero - an imaginary fool. The second row is made up of the hero's assistants, with the assistance of which he accomplishes his exploits and successfully overcomes all obstacles and adventures. The third row is the enemies or pests of the hero with whom he fights.

Heroes - heroes are born from a miraculous conception and from infancy endowed with titanic strength and other supernatural qualities. This type of heroes includes Pokatigoroshek, Ivan the Bear's Ear, Ivan Suchich, Ivan the Cow's Son and others. Pokatipeas is born miraculously - from a pea that his mother finds and eats. The time from conception to birth is fantastically shortened. He grows not by years, but by the hour, he has extraordinary mental abilities: he begins to speak and reason reasonably, while still in the womb. He has superhuman stamina and gigantic strength. He performs feats, killing a monstrous snake, rescuing his sister and brothers from captivity. This is one of the archaic types of heroes of the East Slavic fairy tale epic, it is based on the cult of plant power.

Ivan - Bear's Ear or Medvedko is born as a result of the cohabitation of a woman (sometimes a man) with a bear (bear). Outwardly, he is “just like a man, only bear ears” or “a man to the waist, and a bear from the waist.” Like Pokatigoroshek, he is unusually fast growing, strong and smart. This is a violent, mischievous nature. In childhood, carelessly playing with peers, cripples them. In the image of this hero, heroic and satirical-humorous features merged. In the tales of the bear's son, traces of the cult of the totem beast are visible.

The hero is a lucky one (usually his name in fairy tales is Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan peasant son), unlike the hero-hero, he does not have titanic strength, although he is strong and dexterous, often handsome: "a handsome hand-written man, he will look like a falcon, stand up like a lion - a beast, there is no way to look away." But the main thing in him is his high moral qualities, with which he attracts assistants, and they serve him, helping to overcome all obstacles. This type of hero embodies the human ideal: he is kind, fair, disinterested, honest. Dying of hunger, he spares the animals, enduring need, shares the last piece with the beggar. He unquestioningly fulfills his father's order, coming three nights in a row for himself and for his older brothers to guard his father's grave. For each good deed, the hero is rewarded with a wonderful horse or a wonderful item.

The imaginary fool is the hero in disguise. In a fairy tale it is always the third younger son V peasant family("By pike command”, “Sivka-burka”, “Mumps - a golden bristle”, “Humpbacked horse”). Sometimes this is the only son of a poor widow ("Magic Ring"), a merchant's son ("Dunno", "Bald", "Mysterious Knight"). The fool does not have a family of his own and lives with his brothers, being, as it were, subordinate to their wives, who give him small assignments. The tale never shows him as a participant in important economic and family affairs. He can be sent to the river for water or to the forest for firewood, or sent to guard. But they are never sent to plow, sow or trade.

He may appear lazy and inactive. Usually he is not busy with anything: he sits on the stove or in a corner behind the stove, sorting through the stove ash, which is perceived by others as stupidity. However, this is precisely what distinguishes the fool as a special hero. The furnace (ash, and ashes) in folk mythology is tied to the spirits of the house and the cult of ancestors. The fool is connected with another world, the laws of which differ from the laws of the real world, and is under its special protection.

Being in a dependent position on family members, sometimes suffering hunger and deprivation, a fool does not seek to change his unenviable position. Therefore, Emelya, having received from the pike a wonderful opportunity - to command, does not use it to acquire wealth and power, but uses it so as not to waste time on boring everyday affairs: he makes buckets go to the hut, sleighs go to the forest, an ax to chop wood - he is supposedly too lazy. But his laziness is imaginary, for as soon as the hour strikes, this laziness will not remain in sight: Ivan the Fool will ride a horse, getting the bride’s ring, Emelya will erect a huge bridge with a crystal palace on a beautiful island. At the right moment, the fool will begin to show extraordinary cunning and ingenuity, which are completely absent from him in everyday life.

He is not endowed from birth with physical strength, nor beauty. Outwardly, he may look dirty, downtrodden and insignificant, unsightly. But the fairy tale never speaks of his physical shortcomings, short stature or outward ugliness. Usually his ugliness is due to the fact that he is deliberately untidy: dirty, unwashed, stained with soot, dressed in rags. In this form, for the amusement of the brothers, he can go on a thin horse to the banquet in the royal palace, while the brothers dress up in the best clothes and ride good horses.

His impracticality seems foolish to those around him. Emelya releases the pike caught into the river, instead of boiling it and eating to the full (“According to pike command"). A fool does not know the value of money. Vanka, the widow's son, spends the last pennies intended for food, and even gives his last jacket to ransom the animals doomed to death ("Magic Ring"). Ivan, a merchant's son, nurses a glacial colt covered with scabs ("Dunno"). Strange (from the point of view of others) impracticality of a fool, upon closer examination, turns out to be his virtue: pity and kindness towards the weak and defenseless.

Thanks to his humane attitude towards animals, selflessness, strict fulfillment of his father's covenants, moral superiority over his enemies and ill-wishers, he acquires true friends and helpers who help him acquire such treasures and benefits that his practical and active brothers did not even dream of. For kindness, a fairy tale rewards goodness, and over time, an imaginary fool becomes a written handsome man, commits heroic deeds(liberates the kingdom from enemies) or builds palaces, plants beautiful gardens, and then marries the king's daughter and inherits the kingdom.

Unfairly persecuted heroines - sufferers can act as heroes of a fairy tale. Most often these are “orphans”: Cinderella, sister Alyonushka, Tiny - Khavroshechka, Vasilisa, Bezruchka. Fairy tales emphasize not external beauty, but kindness, modesty, gentleness, obedience, patience, humility, diligence and other qualities characteristic of a Christian woman. They are exhausted by overwork evil stepmother("Cinderella"), they suffer from hunger, cold, dress in rags, they do not hear a kind word from anyone. They are slandered, they are opposed to their own daughters. An orphan has no right to vote in his defense. She has no one to complain about her hard life, no one to cry out her grief to. However, the sorrows of orphans in the fairy tale are temporary, and their suffering is purifying. In addition, the orphan has many helpers.

The helpers of the hero in fairy tales are varied. Most often, the first assistant and friend of the hero is a woman: his wife, bride, mother or sister. These can be both sorceresses and princesses: Marya the princess, Nastasya Korolevichna, Marya Morevna, Varvara the beauty, the golden braid, Elena the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise, assistants with miraculous abilities, wisdom and beauty. Fairy-tale heroines are so beautiful that "neither in a fairy tale to say, nor to describe with a pen."

Most of them have unusual abilities because they are connected with another world, they can be daughters or relatives of the powerful forces of nature. For example, Marya Morevna is the daughter of the Sea Tsar. Vasilisa the Wise may be the daughter of Koshchei the Immortal or the Serpent. Sometimes the daughter of Baba Yaga can be an assistant. They perform all sorts of difficult tasks for the hero, save him from dangers.

The images of wonderful helpers in a fairy tale are varied, and their functions correspond to their names: Swat-Mind, a powerful invisible person who fulfills all the orders of the hero in the fairy tale "Go there - I don't know where, bring that - I don't know what." The hero’s assistants can be counter heroes endowed with unusual properties, personifying the mighty forces of nature: Gorynya or Gor - Gorovik (“turns mountains, throws them from handle to handle”), Dubynya or Oak - Dubovik (pulls out mighty oaks with the roots), Adoptive, overlapping with his with the mustache of the river: “The mustache - the hero - locks the river with his mustache, catches fish with his mouth”, Skorokhod, who walks on one leg, and the other is tied to his ear, since on two legs he “would have stepped over the whole world in one step.” This gallery of assistants is continued by Ruhach, Opivalo, Eaten, Much from dogs, Much from fire, etc.

Sometimes Baba Yaga acts as an assistant to the hero. She gives him good advice, the magic horse unusual strength, gives wonderful items: a ball that shows the hero the way to the goal, an invisibility cap, walking boots, etc. She lives in the "thirtieth kingdom, beyond thirty lakes, where even a raven does not bring a Russian bone." Many fabulous attributes indicate that the image of Baba Yaga is the embodiment of the deceased progenitor. Her hut on chicken legs resembles the ancient type of burials in small structures made of wood on pillars. In some fairy tales, it is reported that it is fenced with a fence with skulls on stakes (it is like a grave in the center of a large burial).

Usually Baba Yaga lies motionless “on the stove, on the ninth brick, her nose has grown into the ceiling” or drives around the hut in a mortar. She is ugly, ugly, she has a bone leg. V.Ya. Propp believes that Baba Yaga's "bone-footedness" also indicates that this is the image of a dead man. She does not see the hero, but she recognizes his approach by smell. This also brings the image of Baba Yaga closer to the dead, whose eyes are always closed. She becomes the hero's assistant in those cases when he is her relative on the part of his wife. It can be assumed that the image of Baba Yaga the helper embodies the veneration of deceased relatives, whose mercy and help a person sought to receive.

Animals can be assistants: a horse, a cow, a wolf, a bear, a dog, a cat, a snake, a falcon, a raven, a drake, a duck, an eagle, a pike. Help the hero and insects (bees, ants). Various magical items and curiosities also act as assistants. One of the groups of such helpers is “inexhaustible” wonderful objects: “sambranca tablecloth”, “jug with forty horns”, from which various drinks and dishes appear, “self-shaking purse”; the other group is “self-acting” objects: “flying carpet”, “boots-walkers”, “self-fighting baton”, “gusli-samogudy”.

Some magical items have the ability to hide and, at the right time, let loose the good fellows who help the hero: “bag - give mind”, a wonderful chest, etc. The “invisibility cap”, a magic ball that indicates the right path, also acts as an assistant. The hero is helped by living and dead water, which adds or subtracts strength, potions (“sleeping potion”), pins, a comb, and other items that have the property of sleeping. Often there are wonderful objects in fairy tales that have the magical power to turn into powerful barriers for the pursuers of the hero: a towel - into a river, lake, sea, a comb - into a dense forest, mountains.

Helpers in fairy tales about orphans are kind sorceresses who replace their dead mother (“Cinderella”), a magic doll left to an orphan by a dying mother (“Vasilisa the Wise and Baba Yaga”), a cow (“Tiny-Havroshechka”). And, as a late phenomenon of the Christian period, in fairy tales - the Most Holy Theotokos, healing the heroine and helping to restore justice ("Handless").

The opponents of the hero are conditionally divided by researchers into two groups: the monsters of the "other" kingdom and the enemies of the "own" kingdom. The former include "Oh" - a skilled sorcerer and a werewolf, "Heself with a fingernail, a beard with an elbow" - an evil dwarf of Russian fairy tales, an ungrateful and impudent creature with exorbitant physical strength, despite his small stature. Baba Yaga, a sorceress, an evil adviser, a warrior, a cannibal and a kidnapper, can also act as an adversary. In the image of Yaga, the opponent of the hero, one can guess the ideas of ancient people about a strange, hostile pawn dead.

The most common image in the fairy tale is the Serpent (Snake-mountain) - a huge multi-headed monster with three, six, nine, twelve or more heads, aggressive towards the hero. He can live in water, mountain or the underworld. He devours people, kidnaps girls (echoes of cult sacrifices), less often - kidnaps heavenly bodies (echoes of ancient myths). Kashchei the Immortal (Kosh, Karachun) is a traditional image of a woman kidnapper in Russian fairy tales. He kidnaps the hero's mother or fiancee. You can kill him only if you find out the secret of his death: “There is an oak tree, a box under the oak tree, a hare in the box, a duck in the hare, an egg in the duck, my death is in the egg.” This is the most common story about the "death of Kashchei in the egg."

The opponents of “their” kingdom are the evil stepmother-sorceress, the king, the royal sons-in-law, and sometimes occupying a higher social status the bride or wife of the hero, who wants to kill him. The struggle of the hero with the enemy helps to see his character, becomes a means of revealing the ideological content of the tale. A special place among these images is occupied by the image of a stepmother and her own daughters. Usually, after the death of the first wife, the old man marries a second time.

The stepmother in a fairy tale is always given in contrast to her own mother, she is never kind, she always hates her stepdaughter or her husband's children from her first marriage. The reasons may be different. Most often, the daughter's stepmothers in the fairy tale are ugly, lazy, arrogant, they are opposed to the beauty and moral qualities of an orphan. Sometimes the stepmother acts like a stupid, grumpy woman who cannot please the stepdaughter. Very often she is depicted in a fairy tale as an evil witch who tries to exterminate stepchildren, turns them into birds and drives them away. In the fairy tale, the stepmother is always punished. Her own daughter returns ashamed (toads jump out of her mouth at every word) or her remains are brought - with her rude behavior, she invited death upon herself. At the same time, the stepdaughter receives a rich dowry and marries a fairy prince.

The fairy tale has its own specific structure. Unlike other types of fairy tales, it has sayings, beginnings and endings. Sayings are rhythmic and rhyming jokes that are not related to the plot. Their goal is to focus, attract the attention of listeners, set them up in a special way. The joke is said smartly and contains humor: “The fairy tale begins from Sivka, from Burka, from Kaurka's things. On the sea, on the ocean, on the island on Buyan, there is a baked bull, crushed garlic in the back. Cut on one side and eat on the other. The saying is found only in the tales of experienced skillful storytellers and quite rarely. More often, a fairy tale begins with an opening that takes the listener from the real to the special. fairy world introduces the scene and the characters. The most common intro: “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived and there was a king ...” or: “There used to be yes lived - there lived an old man and an old woman, they had three sons”, or briefly: “Once upon a time .. .".

The fairy tale ends with endings, which are also of a humorous nature, their goal is to close the fairy tale, defuse attention and return listeners to the real world, make them smile and even laugh, draw attention to the storyteller in order to receive gratitude, a gift or a treat. Most traditionally: “That's the end of the fairy tale, and whoever listened - well done. For you - a fairy tale, and for me - bagels knitting. Sometimes the storyteller turns out to be a guest of a wedding feast that completes the plot: “And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth. They gave me a pancake, and that one rotted.” Endings are not always found. Most often, the fairy tale ends with the formula: "They began to live, live and make good." Or: “The whole fairy tale, you can’t lie anymore.”

In fairy tales there are often repeated poetic clichés - traditional formulas common to different plots and textual variants. We have already spoken about artistic formulas depicting time and space. In addition, fairy tales use formulas to describe the beauty of heroes: “neither to say in a fairy tale, nor to describe with a pen”, a formula depicting the growth rate of a hero: “grows by leaps and bounds”. In many fairy tales, there is an appeal-spell to a magic horse: "Sivka-burka, prophetic kaurka, stand in front of me, like a leaf in front of grass." A spell is spread by the hero of the revolving hut of Baba Yaga, into which he must enter: “Hut-hut, stand in the old way, as your mother set, back to the forest, front to me,” etc.

Fairy tales have a peculiar language and poetic style. Previously, they used to say not to tell, but to tell a fairy tale, because the storyteller's speech during performance differed significantly from everyday speech. IN poetic language fairy tale, we note the tendency to use phrases formed from synonyms and cognate words. Synonymy enhances the brightness and expressiveness of the depicted persons and events: “The sea stirred, the sea shook”, “Sadness and melancholy found on the queen”, “Wonderful, wonderful, miraculous”, “They began to mourn grief”, “He jokes bad jokes”.

Proverbs, sayings, phraseologisms characteristic of the colloquial everyday language are introduced into the speech of the characters: “I took hold of the tug, don’t say that it’s not hefty”, “Come on, the dog and death”, “Sit down at the table, and where did it come from” .

Of the verbal and visual means, a fairy tale most often resorts to epithets. The traditional epithet some kingdom, some state - emphasizes the uncertainty of the scene. Such constant epithets as a self-assembled tablecloth, living water, gusli-samogudy denote properties hidden in objects. The epithet can determine the class affiliation or position of the hero in the family. For example: Ivan is a prince, Ivan is a peasant son, Ivan is a cow son, Ivan is the younger son, etc. Epithets can emphasize a high degree of quality of a person or object: Vasilisa the Wise, exorbitant power, dense forest. Evaluative epithets are used: a sad thought, a mangy horse, an unclean spirit.

A fairy tale often uses comparisons in a simple or extended form. Thanks to comparisons, the actions of the heroes stand out, the emotional effect is enhanced: “The falcon is not clear flying on a herd of geese, swans and gray ducks, Ivan Tsarevich attacks the enemy army”, “They were carried like violent whirlwinds to the wide ocean sea”, “ As they hit with battle clubs, the thunder rumbled.