Fairy tale characters. Fairy tale names Names of heroes of Russian folk tales list

The Snow Queen is from the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The Snow Queen is as cold as ice, impregnable as an iceberg...

Sleeping Beauty - princess - a beauty who fell into a long sleep andslept for a hundred years

From what regions grandfather Samo came to us - no one will remember. With any business, he was on "you". And he did a lot not for himself, he tried for working people. Especially for those who loved to keep advice with their heads. Grandfather will come across Samo such a person - he will definitely mark him. The master Samo also had one more amazing property - he was able to convey his name to the working tool. Yevgeny Permyak told us about the wonderful grandfather Samo in his fairy tale “About Grandpa Samo”.

The Steadfast Tin Soldier,

Piggy bank,

Nightingale - these fairy-tale characters with the letter C were revealed to the world by the famous Danish writer G.Kh. Andersen.

Nightingale the Robber

Fairy tale characters with the letter T

Tobacco - jackal, constant companion of the Sherkhan tigerfrom the collection of short stories "The Jungle Book"

Cockroach - threatened to swallow everyone and not have mercy on anyone

Tikhey Molchanovich

Tikhogrom is a dwarf from the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm, a small, agile man with a large head and long arms.

Three fat men

Pumpkin (godfather)

hasty

Tortilla - a turtle, a resident of the pond, a lady of the heart, who gave Pinocchio a golden key (A.N. Tolstoy's fairy tale "The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio")

Tugarin Serpent

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter U

Ukonda - one of the seven underground kings

Umka is a white bear cub, good-natured and funny

Urgando - one of the ancient Time Keepers of the Underground Country

Worra - leader of the Flying Monkeys

Urfin Juice

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter F

Fasolinka - the son of the rag-picker Fasoli and friend of Cipollino from D. Rodari's fairy tale "The Adventures of Cipollino"

Fedora (b abushka) - a big fan of dishes

Fairies are frequent guests of fairy tales, both author's and folk

Finist - clear falcon

Foka - jack of all trades dock,man is an inventorfrom the fairy tale of the same name by Evgeny Permyak

Foxtrot - police chief from "The Adventures of Funtik the Pig"

Freken Bock - a housekeeper, the owner of a great culinary talent in terms of baking buns ("The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof" by Astrid Lindgren)

Funtik

Fairy tale characters with the letter X

Khavroshechka - a girl who does not know mother's love, her life passed in worries-works

Hart from "The Fiery God of the Marrans" and "Yellow Mist" by A. Volkov

Khitrovan Petrovich - from the fairy tale "Long-lived Master" by Evgeny Permyak

Hottabych - an old man who can work miracles

The mistress of the Copper Mountain is a regal, important person. She has her own kingdom, special, precious

Khvasta (zayatz)

Chromonog from "The Adventures of Cipollino" by D. Rodari

Piggy

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter C

The Frog Princess - by the will of fate became the wife of Ivan Tsarevich, the youngest son of the Tsar

King Bird (aka Firebird)

Tsar Saltan - the hero of the fairy tale A.S. Pushkin "The Tale of Tsar Saltan, his son, the glorious and mighty bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich and the beautiful princess Swan"

Tsakhes - fromthe son of a poor peasant woman, Frau Lisa, an absurd freak who never learned to speak and walk well until two and a half years old, Tsakhes frightened those around him with his appearance (the hero of the fairy tale by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann "Little Tsakhes, nicknamed Zinnober")

Caesar - from the tales of A. Volkov "The Fiery God of the Marranos" and "Yellow Mist"

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter H

Sorcerer - an ordinary sorcerer

Cheburashka is an animal belonging to an unknown family of animals.

Bird cherry - a doctor from D. Rodari's fairy tale "The Adventures of Cipollino"

Blueberries - godmother from D. Rodari's fairy tale "The Adventures of Cipollino"

The Devil (from the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale "The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs").

Chipollino is a brave onion boy fromfairy tales by Gianni Rodari "The Adventures of Cipollino"

Cipollone - Cipollino's father from D. Rodari's fairy tale "The Adventures of Cipollino"

Chikhuny from the fairy tale by Heinrich Sapgir "Winkers and Chikhuny" love to listen to poetry

wonder bird(from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Wonder Bird")

Miracle - Yudo

Churidilo from the fairy tale of Henry Sapgir is round-faced like the moon; he has forty arms and forty legs, and even forty blue eyes

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter Sh

Humpty Dumpty - a fairy tale character who sat on the wall and fell down in his sleep

Shapoklyak is an old woman whoorganizes unkind pranks on the harmless inhabitants of the city

Shere Khan - a tiger, a character from the "Jungle Book" ("Mowgli") by the English writer Rudyard Kipling, the main antagonist of Mowgli

Hatter from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

Chocolate - bhegemotfrom "The Adventures of Pig Funtik"

Hairpin -artistliving in fairy tales about Dunno author Nikolai Nosov

Syringe -doctor

Shpuntik -master,

Shtuchkin - director living in fairy tales about Dunno author Nikolai Nosov

Screwdriver -inventor,living in fairy tales about Dunno author Nikolai Nosov

Shushera - a rat from the story-tale "The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio"

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter W

The Nutcracker - at first he was an ugly doll, but at the end of the tale he became a very important person ...

Pike is a little weird character, she has magical powers, and can give this power to others

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter E

Eliza is the heroine of the fairy tale by H.K. Andersen "Wild Swans"

Ellie -the girl is meek, quiet, but knows how to fend for herselffrom A. Volkov's fairy tale "The Wizard of the Emerald City"

Elvina - Former queen of the Underworld

Elgaro the miner

Eljana - one of the last kings of the Underworld

Elf, elves -

Forest echo - no one saw it, but everyone heard it

Fairy tale characters starting with the letter U

Yuma - Princess of Marrano, wife of Prince Torma,fairy-tale heroine from A. Volkov's book "The Fiery God Marranov" (a series of fairy tales "The Wizard of the Emerald City")

Yuksi (means first in Russian) is the oldest gosling, he was the first to hatch from an egg, and soon demanded that everyone obey him from the fairy tale story of Selma Lagerlöf “Niels' wonderful journey with wild geese”

Southern Ktototam is a beast that nature “forgot” to create, but it was invented by a wonderful writer, a real miracle worker Boris Zakhoder

Fairy tale characters with the letter I

Apple tree - a fabulous tree from the Russian folk tale "Geese-swans"

Jacob - a boy who, together with his mother, traded in the marketplace

Fairy lands...

Buyan - a magical fairy-tale island, found in Russian fairy tales and beliefs. This island is considered the navel of the earth, it is located in the middle of the sea-ocean and there are many magical objects on it: a baked bull, crushed garlic in the side, and a chiseled knife; mythological characters live on it, Christian saints, evil diseases - lihomanki; a magical stone alatyr, healing any wounds and diseases...Fairy-tale Buyan also became widely known thanks to Pushkin: magical things are kept on Buyan Island that help fairy-tale heroes, and a magic oak (World Tree) grows. Many folk conspiracies and spells began with the words: "On the sea in Okiyana, on an island in Buyan lies the white-combustible stone Alatyr." The sacred stone alatyr in Slavic mythology denoted the center of the world.

The real Buyan is the German island of Rügen in the Baltic. In ancient times, the West Slavic tribe of the Ruyans lived on the island, and the island was called Ruyan in their honor. On the island was Arkona - the main pagan sanctuary of the Baltic Slavs. In subsequent centuries, in Slavic folklore, the name was transformed into Buyan.

And the fabulous “white-combustible stone Alatyr” is the chalk rock “Royal Throne”, towering above the sea. According to tradition, the applicant for the Ruyan throne had to climb alone at night along the spurs of the rock to the very top (which, apparently, was difficult and scary).

Lukomorye - distant fantasy land...The fabulous Lukomorye was borrowed by Pushkin from the folklore of the Eastern Slavs. This is a reserved northern kingdom on the edge of the world, where people fall into hibernation and wake up with the first rays of the spring sun. There is the World Tree (“At Lukomorye there is a green oak”), along which, if you go up, you can get to heaven, if you go down - to the underworld.

The real Lukomorye, contrary to the children's song with the words "Lukomorye is not on the map, so there is no way into a fairy tale", is depicted on many old Western European maps: this is the territory adjacent to the eastern shore of the Ob Bay, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe modern Tomsk region.

In general, “Lukomorye” in the Old Slavonic language means “the bend of the seashore”, and in the Old Russian chronicles this toponym is mentioned not in the Far North, but in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Azov and Black Seas and the lower reaches of the Dnieper. The chronicle Lukomorye is one of the habitats of the Polovtsians, who were sometimes called that - "Lukomors". For example, in conjunction with these regions, Lukomorye is mentioned in the Tale of Igor's Campaign. In "Zadonshchina" in Lukomorye, the remnants of Mamai's army retreat after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo.

Far Far Away kingdom - “another, distant, alien, magical” land (country).

The expression "Far Far Away Kingdom, the Far Far Away State" is very often found in Russian folk tales as a synonym for the expression "very far away." The origin of the expression is due to the fact that in ancient Rus' the word “land” was used, in particular, for a territory subordinate to one ruler (for example, the Rostov-Suzdal land is a territory subordinate to the princes who lived in the cities of Rostov and Suzdal). Thus, a hero who goes "to distant lands" must, in his wanderings, cross the appropriate number of sufficiently large territories and the state borders located between them.

The natural background for the action of Russian myths was the habitual habitat (field, forest). As an opposition, an “Other”, alien, strange land was envisaged: Far Far Away Kingdom, Far Far Away State ... Initially, these were steppes, deserts, and often forests and impenetrable swamps and other fabulous obstacles (for example, rivers with fire), etc.

The very origin of the term is as follows: in the old days they counted in threes, hence far away (three times nine) - twenty-seven, thirty - thirty.

Oz - O surrounded on all sides by mountains and desert, the land of Oz could well exist in reality. Some argue that Frank Baum allegorically represented the United States in his book, but there is an opinion that the real Land of Oz is located in China, and the laurels of the Emerald City are tipped to Sydney, Chicago and Dubai. In any case, when you go looking for the land of Oz, be careful, because the first film based on this work is on the "damned" list, due to many accidents on the set. In addition, many productions of the work were also overshadowed by the troubles that happened to the actors, and most often went to those who played the role of the evil sorceress Gingema.

Wonderland - P consolation through the rabbit hole in our times seems more fantastic than flying into space, although in the last century the latter seemed less real. The magical country where the Cheshire Cat and the March Hare live can be found if you take a good walk in the vicinity of Oxford, where Lewis Carroll once studied. And those who want to get to know the characters of the book better should go to the small town of Ripon in North Yorkshire. It was the decorations of the local cathedral that served as a source of inspiration for Lewis when creating images.

Neverland - With According to legend, only children can enter the island, and adults are not allowed to enter here. Although, with pure childish thoughts, it is quite possible to follow the route of Peter Pan over the tops of trees and through caves and find yourself in a country where Captain Hook, fairies, mermaids and pirates live. James Barry is said to have written his book inspired by a trip to Australia, but many also claim that Madagascar is the true prototype of No and Never Island.

narnia - The kingdom of Narnia, where animals can talk and magic works, appeared thanks to Clive Lewis, who described it in a series of seven children's fantasy books. There is no single opinion on where Lewis drew inspiration for describing amazing landscapes. Although many are inclined to believe that the dense forests, battlements and high mountains that the book talks about can be found in Northern Ireland in County Dawn. However, the creators of films about Narnia found scenery for filming their chronicles only in distant Australia. And the third picture of the cycle, scheduled for release in December 2010, is filmed in New Zealand, on the White Island, located in the Bay of Plenty.

middle earth - P It is perhaps difficult to find a non-existent country with a more detailed map and a more complete documented history. There are even more "historical testimonies" written by John Tolkien about Middle-earth than in some real countries. Thanks to Peter Jackson, the author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the minds of tourists, Middle-earth is firmly associated with New Zealand and served as a massive influx of tourists to these distant lands. If you don’t want to go that far, you can find places closer: Argentina, Scotland, Romania and Finland are also related to the great work.

wonderful forest - The hundred-acre forest, which became “wonderful” with the light hand of Boris Zakhoder, is actually located in England, in the county of East Sussex and is called Ashdown. In any case, this is exactly what Alan Milne's son, Christopher, claims in his autobiography. Some of the places described in the book can actually be found in the forest, which, thanks to Winnie the Pooh, has long gained tourist popularity. Alas, it will not be possible to see the toys that served as the prototypes of the heroes of the fairy tale in England. Back in 1947, they were taken to the United States for an exhibition and are now stored in the New York Public Library. True, the issue of returning exhibits to their homeland haunts the British and was even raised in 1998 in the British Parliament. But in Oxfordshire you can take part in the annual trivia championship, which appeared thanks to the book.

A huge warm river flows in the ocean. It's called the Gulf Stream. It flows and warms the whole world. If not for the Gulf Stream, the Earth would look like a house without a brownie - cold and uncomfortable. Our life would be just as cold and uncomfortable without the Fairy Tale, which flows like a huge warm river across the ocean called Life.
Someone convinced us that we ourselves invent fairy tales in order to someday “make a fairy tale come true”. And why not admit that the Tale invented us, so that later we would return to it. They bathed in the “were”, like Ivanushka the Fool in spring water and boiling milk, and returned from there as Ivan Tsareviches and Elena the Beautiful - to the Fairy Tale.
And so that they do not forget their historical fairy-tale homeland, it flows through our whole life, recalls:
- “Do not be shy,” he says, “guys. I'm near. Just a little help. Here is Living Water, here is Dead Water, there is the Gray Wolf and the magic carpet ... The main thing is that you don’t believe the Serpent Gorynych, but don’t forget where Koshcheev’s death is, so that it’s a little trouble with your Princess, they know how to get to Buyan Island.
A fairy tale, they say, is “a lie and a hint in it ...” There is no hint in a fairy tale. Everything is directly stated in it, without hints: this one is the Tsarevich, this one is Baba Yaga, that one is the Leshy ...
The warm river of Fairy Tale flows, flows into the ocean named Life, and mixes with it so much that it is difficult to separate them. And do you need to share?

FAIRY-TALE HEROES

ALESHA POPOVICH
Originally from Rostov. Judging by the nickname, he was born into a religious family, which did not prevent him from becoming a professional military man - one of the three heroes. Father's name was Levon, so Alyosha's patronymic is Levontievich.
Unfortunately, Alexei Levontievich Popovich did not have a childhood. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, having barely been born and seeing that they were going to swaddle him and put him in a cradle, Alyosha demanded that he “not be swaddled with swaddling clothes, but given chain mail.” Putting on chain mail, the newborn asked his mother for blessings, a horse and a saber. After saying goodbye to his parents, he went to work.
Kind, sympathetic and a little naive, Alyosha cut off many enemy heads with his sword. He began his military career with a journey from Rostov to Kyiv, on the way where he defeated a terrible monster named Tugarin.
This Tugarin, having met the hero, behaved defiantly and began to threaten him with reprisals (strangle with smoke, fry and eat). But the monster miscalculated. The young hero defeated Tugarin, cut him with a saber and swept him across the open field.
Arriving in the former capital of Ancient Rus', Alyosha Popovich entered the service of Prince Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko (Krasno Solnyshko is not a patronymic and surname, but a nickname) and made friends with other heroes (see Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich).
Alyosha Popovich limped and wielded magic. He was able to turn into birds and animals. In adulthood, he married the beautiful Elena, whom he himself called Elena, and others - Elena the Beautiful.

ALICE
A typically English, well-bred girl from the fairy tales of the writer Lewis Carroll. A little boring, but it even decorates her. Once, chasing the Rabbit (see Hare), she climbed into his hole, which turned out to be a bottomless well leading to Wonderland. Then Alice climbed into the mirror and found herself in the Looking Glass. The result was two fairy tales about Alice: in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. In both tales, she travels through the old games of chess and cards.

ALADDIN
The poor Arab youth from the tales of "1001 Nights". He took out a magic lamp from the enchanted cave, inside of which there was a Genie (see Genie). This Genie dutifully carried out all the orders of Aladdin and, in the end, helped him successfully marry an oriental beauty princess (see Princess).
But one should not think that Aladdin himself did nothing to deserve the love of the beautiful princess Budur. He probably would have managed well without Genie, because he was a handsome, brave and cheerful young man. But it so happened that the Evil Wizard became Aladdin's enemy. Therefore, without the Genie, Aladdin would have had a hard time.

AU
Uncle Au is a modern lonely Finnish ghost, described by the writer Hannu Mäkele, and appeared in Russia thanks to the writer Eduard Uspensky.
A brief description of it is in the fairy tale:
"He'll handle the engine,
He'll steal a truck
A mix of goblin with a lifter -
Modern lumberjack.
Uncle Au is a colorful and charming personality. He lives in the forest, is also Leshy (see Leshy), experiments, growing an “eternally hungry tree”, fights with the “Box Factory”, which decided to cut down all of his Finnish reserved forest into boxes. Of course, a lone ghost could never manage an entire factory. It is good that he had friends - children and animals.

WOMAN
In fairy tales he always lives with Grandfather (“Once upon a time there were Grandfather and Baba ...”). Often a grumpy, wayward woman with a bad temper. All the time he strives to send his Grandfather somewhere. Now to catch fish to the very blue sea, then to the dark forest for firewood, then to the fair for a cow, and once in winter she even forced Grandfather to sculpt a Snow Maiden in the cold.
In her poor hut, most often there are no pickles. She is stingy, stupid and curious. This is usually used by various passers-by, wanderers, and especially soldiers who visit her from time to time. They tell her all sorts of fairy tales and stories, forcing her to put the food in the cellar on the table. A vivid example is the story of a Soldier (see Soldier), who, in front of the surprised Baba, cooked soup from an ax and from her, grandmother's, products.
However, to be fair, it must be noted; being in a good mood, Baba can sometimes, at the request of Grandfather, scrape the barrels, place them in the barns and bake the Gingerbread Man. She often helps her husband pull the Turnip and beat the golden egg from under the Hen Ryaba (see Hen Ryaba). True, the latter does not work out well for her. Nevertheless, when Grandfather and Baba live in a fairy tale, then the fairy tale itself turns out to be more fun. If in a fairy tale Baba lives without Grandfather, and even in the forest, she is almost certainly a witch. At best, Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga).

BABA YAGA
The character is not fabulous at all, but the real one. It was found (and maybe still found) in taiga places. There, in the swamps, a very tasty berry grows - cloudberry. The pine forest itself is called Yag. It was by the name of the boron and especially the berries that she collected that they called the lonely grandmother - a hermit, and maybe the healer Baba Yaga. However, there are many other versions of the origin of her name.
Baba Yaga cooked decoctions, dried herbs, knew all sorts of old spells from the evil eye, from spoilage, from toothache. Therefore, of course, she did not enjoy great popular love. Rather, the opposite is true. Enjoyed great people's fear. People were afraid of her. For the character is secretive, unsociable. For knowledge witchcraft, incomprehensible. But love is love, fear is fear, and the help of Baba Yaga from time to time was needed by many. Either the cow will get sick, then the teeth will ache, then the drought will break out, then the flood, then some other misfortune. Who will help? It is known that you need to go to Baba Yaga in the forest. In a hut on chicken legs. By the way, this hut is also, I think, not fictional, but real. In the taiga, hunters built (and are still building) houses on poles, and more often on high felled stumps. No windows, no doors. And they put their prey there so that the forest animals would not steal it. Where did the old hermit get a house from? She won't build herself. So she lived in such a hunting barn. These barns were low. You can sleep there, but you can't stand upright. Therefore, Baba Yaga slept “nose to the ceiling”. Grandmother had one joy - communication with interesting people: either Ivashka would drop in, then Alyonushka would get lost in the forest, then Koschey would come to the light.

BURATINO
Wooden boy from the fairy tale of Alexei Tolstoy. Son of Papa Carlo (see Papa Carlo). Self-confident, ignorant, but kind and brave hero. Perhaps in the future he will become a good actor or even the main director of the puppet theater. No wonder he managed to gather and rally around him a whole group of like-minded actors (Malvina, Pierrot, the dog Artemon, etc.), who coped with the theater director Karabas Barabas. In fairy tales, this is the first (and, it seems, the only case of reflecting the eternal struggle in theaters of actors and administration).

VASILISA THE WISE
The best, fabulous bride, and then the wife of Ivan Tsarevich (see Ivan Tsarevich). He can do everything (see Frog): sow and grow a field of rye in one night, build a palace of pure wax or gold (in the same short period of time), deceive the Sea King (see Sea King), turn into a dove or a duck. Nobody knows who she is, where she comes from, only every Ivan Tsarevich dreams of his Vasilisa the Wise.

WOLF
Without the Gray Wolf, there would be three times fewer fairy tales, which means that life would be three times more boring. Despite the fact that wolves live in packs, the fairy Wolf is always alone. He behaves like a Bear (see Bear) - unpredictably. Either he will eat Little Red Riding Hood with Grandmother, then he will help Ivan Tsarevich or Elena the Wise.
The Gray Wolf is always a loner in fairy tales. Moreover, in each fairy tale he is special. Sometimes stupid, sometimes smart, kind, sometimes evil, sometimes greedy, sometimes generous. True, angry, greedy and stupid - more often. The Gray Wolf in fairy tales can turn into a “good fellow”, “red maiden”, “clear falcon”. Sometimes it suddenly “hits the ground”, and now - instead of the Wolf, the heroic horse is already standing in front of the hero. In the most terrible tales, evil sorcerers turn into wolves and roam the open field in search of prey.
On the other hand, why be surprised: there are all sorts of people.

CROW
The bird, frankly, is sinister on the one hand, and prophetic on the other. Because he lives as long as we never dreamed of - 300 years. Over the years, she saw a lot of things, experienced, and changed her mind. Gained rich life experience. As a result, she began to play a variety of roles in fairy tales.
On the one hand, she is at Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga) circling over the hut, guarding the captives. On the other hand, it can fly for living and dead water in order to revive Ivan Tsarevich. Contradictory bird.
Polish folk tales say that when the devil (see devil) made a Wolf (see Wolf) from wood, he constructed a Crow from the remains of the tree. It is interesting that in Russian fairy tales, the Crow sometimes serves the Wolf.
The crow in fairy tales guards treasures. At the same time, she is famous as a thief known to everyone, greedy for everything shiny - gold, silver, precious stones. Contradictions in the Crow - a dime a dozen! Her wisdom is as well known as her stupidity. And not only fairy tales, but even fables and anecdotes compose about her laziness and sluggishness.

WITCH
A distant relative of Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga), but much more harmful. Baba Yaga is somehow simpler, clearer, more popular. She does not pretend to be anyone, as a rule, remains herself. It is easy to identify her: a long hooked nose, old age, a bone leg, a raspy voice, a mortar, a pomelo, etc. A witch is always in disguise. Do you think she is a simple peasant woman, or a modest girl from a large family, or even from a wealthy, noble one. And in fact it turns out - the Witch.
In order for us to be able to distinguish a witch, fairy tales are told and written. If not for fairy tales, then witches would have divorced much more.
Judging by the fact that almost all peoples of the world have fairy tales about witches, it can be concluded that witches are everywhere: in Germany, and in England, and in Denmark, and in America, and in China, and in Australia, and even here in Russia. Moreover, the Chinese or German witch is not much different from the Russian one.
Except with the language.
All witches gather annually for their meetings. It happens on Bald Mountain on Walpurgis Night (it usually happens on May 1 of each year). There are other evil spirits present at these meetings as well.
In ancient uncivilized times, to distinguish a witch from a decent girl, this was done; The suspect was thrown into the hole. If it immediately drowns, then it is not a witch, if it swims, it means a witch. Now such an examination is no longer carried out, as new, more scientific methods have appeared.

GIANT
A man of great stature and, as a rule, a small mind (here there is some mathematical regularity. (See Boy with a finger. The exception is Uncle Styopa). According to ancient legends, the Giants (they are also Titans) were the first earthlings who took an active part in the creation world: they poured mountains, created lakes with the help of dams, broke through the channels of future rivers.In connection with this, in general, useful activity, the giants became very proud, as a result of which they were punished by God - they died during the Flood.
Some individuals have survived, as evidenced by numerous tales of the peoples of the world. The surviving giants are distinguished by their bad temper and criminal inclinations. Often they are cannibals. Sometimes there are two, three or more heads. Rumor has it that the remains of giants are found in ancient mounds, and their bones are successfully used by folk healers in the treatment of fever.
In a fair fight, the giant cannot be defeated. Usually people deal with them with the help of intelligence and cunning. So Odysseus dealt with the Cyclops Polyphemus, Puss in Boots and Little Thumb with Ogre (see Boy with Thumb, Ogre), and Jack (see Jack) killed so many giants that he lost count ..

WINNIE THE POOH
Apparently a teddy bear. Likes jam, honey and everything tasty. The character of the books of the English writer Alan Alexander Milne, who in 1927 bought a present in the store for the first birthday of his son, Christopher Robin. Christopher Robin himself named the bear cub Edward. But over time, Edward became Winnie the Pooh. “Vini” because that was the name of the black bear from the London Zoo who let Christopher Robin near him, and “Pooh” because it was the nickname of the Sussex swan. Our domestic “Winnie the Pooh” differs from the English voice of the artist Yevgeny Leonov and the words of the children's writer Boris Zakhoder.

VRUNGEL
Konstantin Bonifatievich, fabulous sea captain. The hero of Viktor Nekrasov's book "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel". He is best known for participating in the round-the-world race on the yacht "Trouble", which he won with his senior assistant named Lom. Thanks to his exceptional truthfulness, Vrungel has always been loved and respected by readers. The peak of his popularity came in the 1980s (immediately after the release of the serial animated film). Unlike Baron von Munchausen (see Munchausen), Captain Vrungel comes from a simple, non-noble family. However, this did not prevent him from eventually becoming as truthful and brave as his German predecessor.

GUIDON SALTANOVICH
Prince. Son of Tsar Saltan (see Saltan). As a child, he and his mother, on the slander of his aunts, were put in a barrel, which they pitched and threw into the blue sea. Fortunately, the wind drove her to the uninhabited island of Buyan. By that time, Gvidon had already grown up in a barrel and matured.
Having gone free with his mother, the young man found himself on a deserted shore. Here he saved the Swan Princess from inevitable death, who turned out to be a good sorceress (see Good sorceress). Swan built a kingdom for Saltan, where he and his mother began to rule. The kingdom was very good, in it the sorceress created many miracles (read “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by A. S. Pushkin). Over time, the Swan Princess turned into a beauty and became the wife of Gvidon Saltanovich.
Gvidon is a good son, a loving husband, a kind king (see King). Many times he invited his father to visit his kingdom, who made a tragic mistake - he believed the slander of evil aunts. Finally, Tsar Saltan arrived on Buyan Island. Then his eyes were finally opened and he learned about the deceit of his relatives. As punishment, he sent them all home, and he himself remained to live and live on Buyan with his wife, son and Princess Swan.

DWARF
Lives in forests and mountains. Often large colonies. It is evil and good. But kind - more often. The main occupation is geological and mining work. Dwarves work underground, mining ore and various gems.
Gnomes are very small, about the size of a Thumb Boy. The character is unbalanced. Easily move from joy to sorrow, from love to hate. Gnomes are best not to annoy or upset. This can be judged from the tale of Nils' travels with wild geese. This boy somehow laughed at the small growth of the Dwarf and paid dearly for it. The dwarf was so furious that he cast a terrible spell on him, as a result of which Niels himself became as small. And he had to travel with wild geese in search of this Dwarf, and then, in order to break the spell, fulfill his almost impossible whims.
So it's better to do what Snow White did when she found herself in the forest with the seven dwarfs (read the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm). She cleaned the house for them, cooked dinner, sang songs. And in the evenings she told stories. The gnomes doted on her soul. So they lived soul to soul.

GOODWIN
The Wizard of the Emerald City (read the story of Nikolai Volkov) is Great and Terrible, but in fact he is an ordinary American magician. Once in a fairy-tale city, with the help of several circus tricks, he convinced all the surrounding residents and evil sorceresses that he was the most powerful Wizard. Having thus carried out a fabulous election campaign, he became the head of the city, which he called Emerald. The city got this name because the "Wizard" ordered all residents to wear green glasses without taking off. The same glasses were given free of charge to all visitors. So he would have lived happily ever after, if not for a fellow countrywoman from Kansas - the girl Ellie, who was brought to the Magic Land by one of the hurricanes (Further read the tale itself).

SWAN GEESE
A flock of swans, flying over the village, carried away on their wings a little boy who was playing on the grass under his window. Geese-swans were in the service of Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga), so they took the boy to the hut on chicken legs. It must be said that Geese-Swans have long gained a bad reputation for themselves. “A lot of mischief and small children were stolen.”
Interestingly, this was not observed for swans alone. Usually the swans were beautiful enchanted princesses, whom the princes later married. But in the flock they somehow deteriorated, became aggressive and went to the service of evil spirits. (The exception is "Wild Swans" by Hans Christian Andersen).
The swan geese handed over the kidnapped children to Baba Yaga, after which they carried an air guard service near the hut. Such a service was necessary for Baba Yaga, since she herself is absent-minded and inattentive.
Here and this time did not keep track of the boy. His older sister, who rushed in pursuit of swan geese, managed to steal her brother. The swan geese, of course, immediately flew after her, but they did not succeed, as the sister and brother hid in a lonely stove standing on the road.
Most likely, the swan geese from Baba Yaga had nothing for this, because she herself was to blame for everything.

GRANDFATHER
(See Baba). Lives as a rule, always with Baba. Sometimes in a village near a forest or a field, another “by the very blue sea”, from time to time in a “faraway kingdom, far away state”. Compliant, hard-working, sometimes he achieves an unprecedented harvest, with which, however, he then does not know what to do (read “Turnip”). So in fairy tales it happened that the grandfather either had no children at all, or there were three of them at once. Likes to send them somewhere far away for marriage or other happiness. He also loves simple peasant food: porridge with milk, kolobok (see Kolobok), rejuvenating apples, etc.
Grandfather is a man, although elderly, but cheerful. He treats Baba condescendingly, does not like to argue with her, and sometimes is afraid.

FATHER FROST
Currently, he is a kind, simple-hearted (a little silly, but it suits him) grandfather who comes to the children on New Year's Eve to put a gift under the Christmas tree. All gifts are in a large beautiful bag. He walks in a red (sometimes blue) fur coat with a white collar. He wears boots and a hat. His nose and cheeks are always red. Most likely from the cold.
The character of many fairy tales. Perhaps the most long-awaited (it is expected for a whole year) for all children. But he did not become so immediately, but over time.
A few thousand years ago, he was the most terrible villain in the world. Worse than Koschey. They scared not only children, but also adults. And it happened just before the New Year, when the day is the smallest, and the night is the longest (“winter solstice”). During this solstice, the Slavic peoples of antiquity usually performed the Kolyada ritual, and the ancient Romans celebrated the “Invincible Sun” holiday. This period according to ancient legends, it seemed to our ancestors the time of the Great Battle for Light and the Sun.
This battle was fought by Belobog and Chernobog (according to other options - Perun and Karachun). Legends depict Karachun as a gray-bearded old man chasing Gromovnitsa, Perun's wife.
Karachun turns into a bear and with a pack of wolves, personifying cruel winter blizzards, tries to find the Gromovnitsa, who is to give birth to the New Year's Sun - Kolyada. (The word "carol" comes from the ancient Slavic "kolo", that is, a circle that has always served as a graphic image of the Sun). This very Karachun was once our Grandfather Frost.
Santa Claus, as you all know, usually appears at midnight - the most traditional time for rampant evil spirits. At the same time, the walking of mummers in the images of bears, wolves, goats, etc. begins.
From time immemorial, frost has been a dangerous enemy for a merchant, an artisan, and a peasant. Here is how the people spoke Frost on Christmas Eve:
Frost, Frost Vasilyevich! Go eat kutya! I'll break my head with a chain,
I'll cut my eyes with a broom!
Judging by this verdict, the relationship of our ancestors with Grandfather Frost can hardly be called friendly. They imagined him as a little old man with a long white beard and with a staff in his hand. He ran through the fields, banging his staff and thus causing bitter frosts. They tried to propitiate and tame this Santa Claus. In winter, they often fed him: they threw delicious bread balls out the window “for Frost”, took out a spoonful of sweet kissel, and at the same time they said: “Frost, Frost! Come eat kissel! Frost, Frost! Don't hit our oats!”
Grandfather Frost ate sweet jelly and gradually got better. So the evil old man turned into a kind Santa Claus. And he did the right thing, because now they love him.

JACK
(See Ivan the Fool). It differs from our Ivan the Fool only in that no one has ever called him a fool. On the contrary, they immediately said that Jack was agile and smart. Lives in fabulous England. The main occupation is the winner of giants (see Giant). His first giant named Kormoren Jack defeated in early childhood. It was a voracious hairy monster that dragged everything from the surrounding villages. At one time, Kormoren carried off ten bulls, and strung sheep and pigs on his belt by the hundreds.
Being a businessman, Jack officially concluded his first contract for the destruction of a giant with the city council of Cornwall County. The reward for the work was all the stolen treasures of the giant, stored in his cave. (Here we see another difference from Ivan the Fool, who never entered into contracts with anyone).
Jack coped with the first job promptly, literally burrowing the unlucky giant into a skillfully disguised pit. Thus began his labor activity, which he completed many years later, having killed about a dozen giants of various sizes.
Jack's activity, useful for the kingdom, was highly appreciated by the English government. From King Arthur he received a knighthood and the daughter of an influential duke as his wife.

GENIE
Thanks to the famous cartoon series about Aladdin (see Aladdin), a modern young man who is intelligent enough to believe fairy tales has a completely distorted idea of ​​​​the image of the Genie. He began to be presented as a kind of friendly shirt-guy with a Texas cowboy smile.
I must report that this is a misconception. The real Genie, who has sat in a bottle for thousands of years, is far from being a Disney hero.
If the reader has ever seen how parents open a bottle of warm Champagne, he can imagine how a Genie flies out of such a bottle, having sat in it for a thousand years.
It destroys, sweeps away everything in its path, and woe to those who will be nearby at this moment. Unless, of course, a special spell was cast on the Genie, according to which he must serve the person who released him (as happened with Aladdin). So don't rush to let the Genie out of the bottle. First think about the implications and read the tales of 1001 Nights. This is the best instruction for dealing with Genies.
Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the incident that happened to the pioneer Volka from Leonid Lagin's fairy tale “Old Man Hotabych”. But frankly, I doubt the truth of these events. Firstly, Volka found a bottle with a Genie not in the sea or ocean, and not even on the Arabian Peninsula, but in the Moscow River, where Genies cannot be found. They don't survive. And secondly, Hotabych was a very good-natured old man, if he was a Genie, then he was wrong ..
Much more correct was his brother, whom Hotabych and Volka caught while traveling by sea. This one - just a Genie - is evil and harmful. Can quickly build a palace and destroy it even faster. So don't look in caves and ponds for magic lamps or bottles of Genies. Rely only on yourself and on your parents. Because each person is his own best Genie.

GOOD WITCH
A very beautiful woman in a star cap, cloak and with a magic wand in her hands. Fulfills all the wishes of the good heroes of fairy tales and punishes the evil ones.

NIKITICH
Great Russian hero. Second in importance after Ilya Muromets (see Ilya Muromets) and first before Alyosha Popovich (see Alyosha Popovich). Dobrynya Nikitich always reconciled Ilya Muromets with Alyosha Popovich. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have the Three Bogatyrs.
By origin, Dobrynya Nikitich was from a princely family, a hereditary military man. Dobrynya comes from the city of Ryazan. The mother, Amelfa Timofeevna, was engaged in the upbringing of the hero, because his father, Nikita Romanovich, died when Dobrynya had not even been born yet. The mother gave her son a good education. He “learned to read and write in a cunning way”, and, of course, studied music. The piano didn't exist back then. Therefore, he played the first scales on the harp. He also sang wonderfully and played chess. In future heroic deeds, all this was very useful to him, and Dobrynya more than once remembered his mother with a kind word.
Most of all, Dobrynya Nikitich loved to fight with different snakes. He did not like snakes themselves and, as the authors of encyclopedic dictionaries rightly write: “The fight against the snake tribe began early for him, when “the young Dobrynushka Mikitinets began to ride a good horse in an open field ... to trample small snakes.” Finally, Dobrynya got tired of trampling the little serpents. This is not a heroic business, - he decided, and went to the Puchay River to fight with the main Serpent - Gorynych (see Serpent Gorynych).
Dobrynya drove up to the river, he saw: on the shore, the porters were working, the heroic and peasant ports were being washed. They saw Dobrynya Nikitich and began to dissuade him from fighting with the Serpent. Whether Dobrynya liked them so much, or they have already got used to the Serpent Gorynych, we don’t know.
Dobrynya Nikitich did not listen - he dived into the river and swam. As soon as he reached the middle of the river, out of nowhere the Serpent Gorynych flies in and dives right on the defenseless hero. Breathes fire on him, pours fiery sparks. Unless it bombs. The hero did not lose his head and dived, but surfaced already on the other side of the river. Dobrynya went ashore and “crushed the Serpent with a hat of Greek land.” He fell on the damp ground and began to ask for forgiveness. Dobrynya was a good hero. He forgave the Serpent Gorynych for the first time, but as time has shown, in vain. Serpent Gorynych, taking his feet away from Dobrynya, immediately took up the old. Flying over Kiev, he kidnapped Vladimir's beloved niece the Red Sun, Zabava Putyatishna. The hero had to fight the Serpent again.
Dobrynya Nikitich was a relative of Vladimir the Red Sun. And when the prince ordered him and his brother Putyata (the father of the liberated Zabava) to go and punish the inhabitants of Novgorod, who did not want to be baptized, but stubbornly worshiped the gods of pagan mythology. Dobrynya obeyed. Together with Putyati, they baptized all the surviving inhabitants of Novgorod. Since then, a playful proverb has developed among the people: “Putyata baptizes with a sword, and Dobrynya with fire.”
During his life, Dobrynya Nikitich won many great victories. He was not afraid to fight even with Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga). What is Yaga! Dobrynya Nikitich entered into battle with Marina Ignatievna, a witch known throughout the district, a “sorceress”, “poisoner”, “root girl”, a sorceress who knew how to turn a person into an animal.
Here is how it was; Once Dobrynya Nikitich went into Marinkin Lane. Approaching her house, he suddenly sees in the window kissing the Serpent Tugarin and Marinka. Here the heroic heart trembled, and he shot an arrow right into the window. The serpent Tugarin died right there on the spot, and Marinka began to offer herself to Dobrynya Nikitich as a wife. He, of course, did not agree. Why does he need such a wife? Marina Ignatyevna got angry and turned the hero into a “bay tour” - that is, into a horned bull. This is where the fairy tale would have ended if Dobrynya's mother hadn't helped out. Amelfa Timofeevna saw what Marina Ignatievna had done to her son and came to the rescue. She immediately disenchanted her son, made him a man, and turned Marinka into a “water-carrying mare”. So she has been carrying water ever since.
Dobrynya Nikitich married a very good girl - Nastasya Nikulishna. All his life he loved her very much. Once, leaving for work in an open field, Dobrynya punished his wife to wait exactly 12 years for him, and if he was late, to marry whomever she wanted. The main thing is not for Alyosha Popovich.
Time passed, the hero lingered and it was time for Nastasya to marry again. She didn't want that, of course. But then, out of nowhere, the hero Alyosha Popovich appeared and began to strongly insist that she become his wife. Nastasya had to agree. And then, during the wedding, Dobrynya Nikitich returned from work from the open field. In order not to be recognized, he dressed up as a buffoon and began to sing songs and play the harp (this is where music lessons came in handy for him!).
Nastasya Nikulishna recognized her husband from the songs. Dobrynya Nikitich was very offended by Alyosha Popovich and decided to fight him not for life, but for death. And he would have killed, probably, if not for Ilya Muromets, who reconciled them.
Alyosha Popovich asked for forgiveness, and the three heroes remained good friends.

GOOD AND EVIL
The most important thing is why everything happens in fairy tales and in life. Twin brothers leading the universal battle.

DR. AIBOLIT
Actually, his name is Doctor Doolittle. There are twelve children's books written by the English writer Hugh Lofting. They are called "Doolittle" and tell about the adventures of an extraordinary gentleman who understood the language of animals. But what does the name Doolittle tell us? Only that he is a foreigner.
Therefore, the writer Korney Chukovsky, on the basis of fairy tales about Doctor Dolittle, created his own fairy-tale hero and called him the name Aibolit, understandable to us.
This is the kindest doctor in the world. And the most fearless. A kind of hero (see Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich). Despite the fact that outwardly he does not look like a hero at all (instead of chain mail - a doctor's coat, instead of a helmet - a white cap, glasses on his nose, and a bag of medicines in his hands), Dr. Aibolit performs real feats all the time.

DOMOVOI
In fairy tales, the creature is kind, but with character. Likes to be treated like a human being. Sweet. Kissel especially respects. Ready to eat it day and night. Especially at night, because it leads a predominantly nocturnal lifestyle. Domovoy received his name from the place where he was born, lived and worked - Dom. True, the life and work of the Brownie mainly takes place behind the stove. From here he keeps order: so that the mice and the owners do not play pranks, so that it is cozy and warm in the house. From time to time, the Brownie himself likes to misbehave: rearrange things from place to place, knock on doors and windows.
He looks different: sometimes he will appear in the guise of the owner of the house - you can’t tell, sometimes he will appear like a gray-haired old man with a face completely overgrown with hair, or even pretend to be a broom or a cat.
Irritable. If something is a little off for him, he throws everything in the house, breaks the windows, turns the pans over, it’s good if the fire doesn’t suit him. Most likely, he shows his character (The wife of the Brownie (see Kikimora) is a strict, grumpy and unfair woman. Therefore, having received a portion of scolding from his wife, he wins back on the household. They will endure everything, they will not go against the Brownie).
When the owners move from one house to another, they ask Domovoy to come to them. They bow to him, treat him in a special way, beg: let's go, they say, the breadwinner to a new house! There, a Russian stove is ready for you, and jelly, and a new bathhouse with a pool. They ask for a long time until he agrees. Because a house without Domovoy is not a house, but a misunderstanding.

THE DRAGON
(see Serpent Gorynych). Found in China, England, France, Germany, and America. We in Russia, apparently for climatic reasons, do not have them. There are only Serpents of Gorynych (see Serpent of Gorynych), which endure cold winters better. The lack of dragons in our country should not upset you, because the Serpent of Gorynychi is no worse.
The dragon is multi-headed, spits out smoke and flames, flies, swims, walks (sometimes crawls). Unlike the Serpent Gorynych, in fairy tales he sometimes performs noble roles - he carries knights on himself, enters into battle with witches, and, from time to time, turns into a noble prince, then into a disenchanted princess.
This does not happen with our Serpent Gorynych. He is a confirmed villain. If the appearance of the Serpent Gorynych has not yet been well studied, then the Dragon has been described and sketched many times; This fairy-tale hero is not devoid of beauty and grace. Its members are harmonious, proportionate, the scales burn brightly with gold and silver, the wings cover half the sky. Outwardly, it resembles a greatly enlarged lizard (see Lizard) with wings.
Due to the fact that the claws, heart, teeth and other parts of the Dragon's body were considered lucky talismans, medicines and luxury items in ancient times, the number of dragons on earth has decreased. Dragons are left only in fairy tales, where their hunting is strictly controlled by kings and wizards.

THUMILE
A very small and beautiful girl. Not even a girl, but a fairy who was born in a flower. Then she traveled a lot - by water, by air, by land. I even visited underground, in the hole of one elderly gray mouse. She really wanted to marry her to a wealthy Mole. But, fortunately, everything worked out.

UNCLE STEPA
A lucky variety of the Giant (see Giant). Unlike other giants, he goes to work every day and benefits people. He successfully worked as a policeman, sailor, pilot, mastered several working professions. The poet Sergei Mikhalkov invented Uncle Styopa.

UNCLE FEDOR
A very independent boy. Even soup can cook. Something similar to Uncle Styopa. Not by height, of course, but by a nickname and independence.
Loves nature and animals. With the money found in the treasure, he founded agriculture in the village of Prostokvashino. Cat Matroskin manages his household (Cat took his last name in connection with his great love for the sea). The Dog Sharik also works here (from ordinary dogs, not from thoroughbreds), who in his free time is engaged in photo-hunting; Half the day he runs to take a picture of the Hare, and the second half to give him a photo card.
Uncle Fyodor's economy is prosperous and progressive. Therefore, there is hope that over time Uncle Fedor will become a real farmer, the breadwinner of the family - mom and dad. Over time, in addition to mom and dad, Uncle Fyodor had many other relatives - uncles and aunts, about whom the writer Eduard Uspensky also wrote books.

FIREBIRD
In illustrated books of fairy tales, she always looks very much like a peacock, but in fact she has nothing to do with a peacock. And it looks completely different. They say that in pagan religions, the Firebird meant “a gift from God”, and whoever found the feather of the Firebird is not afraid of any misfortunes. Catching the Firebird, or at least finding its feather, is everyone's cherished dream.
Someone succeeds.

HARE
(He is Cowardly Bunny Gray, he is Oblique) The most cowardly, defenseless and resourceful hero of fairy tales. There is an interesting legend about the origin of the Hare on earth.
They say that God, carried away, fashioned too big ears for him, and when he began to sculpt a heart, he saw that there was not enough clay. But for God, as you know, there are no unsolvable problems. He tore off the hare's tail (leaving a stub) and fashioned a heart out of it. Therefore, the heart of the Hare turned out to be small, cowardly.
The fairy-tale world without the Hare would be boring. This is such a prey that always eludes any hunter: Fox, Wolf, Bear (see Fox, Wolf, Bear). The hare is a kind of fairy-tale Gingerbread Man (see Gingerbread Man), - he left everyone, defeated everyone, - not by strength, but by intelligence, or even weakness (There is nothing strange in this, weakness is also a weapon).
For example, the cunning Fox Hare drove out of his hut. Where should he go? Goes crying. This is where helpers come in. He is not alone in the forest. Another thing is that not everyone can outwit the Fox. But there was a Rooster (see Rooster), who restored justice and drove the red cheat out of the hare's house. That's why he and the Rooster, in order to restore justice in fairy tales.
On the other hand, the Hare is not such a weakling as it is commonly thought of him. For example, in the cartoons and books of the writer Alexander Kurlyandsky (“Well, wait a minute!”), the Hare, although it runs from the Wolf, but in such a way that it becomes a pity not for the game, but for the Wolf himself.
In short, the Hare is a very good fairy tale character. And our distant ancestors understood this. Not without reason, according to ancient Slavic customs, eating hare was not accepted.

DRAGON
A mixture of a lizard, a bat and a flamethrower. Flying kite with multiple heads. The father of the Serpent Gorynych is a real Mountain! Therefore, his patronymic is Gorynych. The number of goals Zmey Gorynych has depends on his age. The smallest one has three heads, the older Gorynych has six, the mature one has nine, the elderly has twelve. Amphibian; Can fly, swim, dive, walk on land. He lives in burrows and caves, where he hides his wealth, which he cannot spend in any way. Because when they see him, they immediately give everything away for free.
In his holes, he hides the beautiful princesses, whom he steals, flying over different kingdoms and cities. He especially fell in love with the Kievan princesses.
With these thefts of brides and princesses, not everything is clear. The main thing is why it is so easy for him to steal another bride while flying over the city. The fact is that the approach of the Serpent Gorynych, as you know, is accompanied by noise, thunder and rain. But for some reason, it was at this time that the princesses strive to go out for a walk, and as a result they fall into the clutches of a terrible monster.
The Serpent Gorynych usually dies at the hands of Ivan Tsarevich, or Dobrynya Nikitich, who do not kill him immediately, but first give him time to improve. But the Serpent Gorynych has never been corrected, so the second meeting with the heroes always becomes the last for him.
After the death of the Serpent Gorynych, the winner frees the captives, captives and even heroes, whom the villain keeps in the dungeon. And then destroys (usually tramples) all the serpents. But, apparently, he does this last work in a hurry, because the Serpents of Gorynychi appear in other fairy tales.

CINDERELLA
A sweet, hardworking, kind girl who met a real Prince at the ball (see Prince), fell in love with him and eventually became a Princess (see Princess). Which is what I wish you all.

IVAN BYKOVICH
Most often - the half-brother of Ivan Tsarevich (see Ivan Tsarevich). It is distinguished by intelligence, courage and great physical strength. Ivan Bykovich usually does not have a father, his mother is a Cow.

IVAN THE FOOL
(He is Ivanushka - the fool) The most beloved folk hero. Usually the youngest in the family. Kind, lazy and lucky. He loves animals, fish, firebirds and horseback riding. Often rides either on the Gray Wolf, or on the Humpbacked Horse, or on the Sivka-Burka, or even just on the stove. At the end of fairy tales, most often he becomes a king and marries Elena the Beautiful or Vasilisa the Wise. But before getting married, he goes through many trials. First of all, poverty, because he is usually born in a poor large family (rarely in the royal family), lies on the stove and catches flies. Ivan the Fool really doesn’t have enough stars from the sky: either he’ll pick up some grebes instead of good mushrooms in the forest, then he’ll feed his father’s dinner to his shadow so that he lags behind him, then he salts the river, then he puts hats on pots so that they don’t freeze ... But all nonsense, which Ivan the Fool does a little later begin to serve him well. No wonder they say: "fools - happiness."
And he gets a Sivka-burka, a prophetic kaurka, and a Sword-treasurer, and a wonderful pipe, and an unsmiling Princess, and half a kingdom in addition. And all because he is not greedy and lucky. And yet - a master of playing the pipe, singing songs, riddles to guess (and solve). How can such a Firebird not be caught, the Princess cannot be made laugh!
And at the end of the tale, he bathes in spring water, and in boiling milk, then he jumps out of these boilers as a good fellow, - the spitting image of Ivan Tsarevich (see Ivan Tsarevich).

IVAN THE PEASANT SON
In his name - the whole biography. From a simple peasant family. Strong, almost like Ilya Muromets (see Ilya Muromets). Clever, almost like Dobrynya Nikitich (see Dobrynya Nikitich), naive, almost like Alyosha Popovich (see Alyosha Popovich), a hero, almost like all fairy-tale heroes.

IVAN.
Real heroes of Russian folk tales. Among them there is simply Ivanushka or Ivashka, there are Ivan Bogatyr, Ivan the peasant's son, Ivan the soldier's son, Ivan the guest son, Ivan the naked, Ivan Peas, Ivan Beschastny, Ivan Bykovich, Ivan the Mare's son, Ivan the Cow's son, Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan the Fool, Ivan Korolevich, Ivashka Zapechnik, Ivashka White Shirt, Ivashka Medvedko and many others.
All of them are united by heroic strength, a heroic fairy-tale fate and a difficult working biography.

IVAN TSAREVICH
(He is Ivan Korolevich). Unlike Ivan the Fool, from the very beginning he was already provided with the royal son and the royal throne even without marrying the royal daughter. This circumstance in the last century prevented its wide popularity. Others were more honored: Ivan the Peasant's son, Ivan the Naked, Ivan the Soldier's son, Ivan the Besschastny, Ivan who does not remember kinship, and simply Ivan the Fool.
Despite this circumstance, Ivan Tsarevich may be the most important Ivan of Russian folk tales. Here he has only one competitor - Ivan the Fool. Moreover, sometimes it’s not a competitor at all, because there are fairy tales where Ivan Tsarevich and Ivan the Fool are one and the same person. It’s just that at first he is Ivan the Fool, and at the end it’s Ivan Tsarevich.
He is related to Ivan the Fool and the fact that both of them are the youngest children - Ivan the Third. Both have no inheritance plans, and both have to rely only on themselves.
For example, if a beautiful bride, queen or princess comes from a kingdom neighboring Ivan Tsarevich, you can be sure that Ivan Tsarevich will go to rescue them. Together with him, his older brothers, who do not like Ivan Tsarevich, will first set off. They reach some deep well, or an underground cave where the Serpent Gorynych (see Serpent Gorynych) usually hides his brides, and they begin to argue who will go down there first. Guess who gets the draw? That's right - Ivan Tsarevich.
He descends, defeats Gorynych, frees the beautiful captive (and sometimes as many as three beauties) and shouts from the bottom of the well to the brothers to raise the girls. The brothers raise the first princess and immediately fall in love with her. And falling in love, they immediately begin to fight with each other. Then the second one is raised and they also fight, because the second princess is even more beautiful. Can you imagine how embarrassing the first!?.
Further more. When the third Tsarevna is taken out of the well, we already understand for sure that it will be bad for Ivan Tsarevich. And we are not mistaken. Because, when they see her, the brothers forget about the first two and their third, youngest.
Yes, they do not just forget, but decide to destroy him: First, they raise him almost to the frame of the well, and then they cut the rope. And Ivan Tsarevich falls down from a great height. Another would have crashed in his place. But Ivan is strong. Doesn't break. Moreover, he finds three eggs in the lair of the Serpent Gorynych. Not simple, but copper, silver and gold. Three kingdoms are rolled up in those eggs. Then the eagle lifts him up, he catches up with his brothers. They reconcile, but at night, Ivan Tsarevich is still killed. They cut into pieces. It's good that the Gray Wolf appears, who takes out living and dead water. Without them, both the fairy tale and Ivan Tsarevich would have ended. Ivan Tsarevich comes to life, goes to his Far Far Away Kingdom, deals with his brothers, marries the beautiful Princess and becomes the real Ivan Tsarevich. Not the third, but the only one.

ILYA MUROMETS
Ilya Ivanovich Muromets was born into a peasant family in the village of Karacharovo, in the Murom district of the Vladimir region. The most important Russian hero. The life path of Ilya Ivanovich Muromets was glorious and difficult.
For thirty years he sat on the stove in his Karacharov, as he was born "without arms, without legs." And he would have sat like this all his life, not having accomplished a single feat, but a happy accident helped. One day, when his parents (father - Ivan Timofeevich, mother - Efrosiniya Yakovlevna) went to work, two cripples knocked on Muromets. Ilya answered them that his parents were not at home, and he himself was as crippled as they were, even worse, because he could not get up from the stove. The cripples probably didn't hear him, so they knocked again. Here a real miracle happened. Ilya Muromets for the first time in thirty years suddenly got to his feet and went to open the gate.
In those distant times, guests often came with their own food and drink. So this time, the cripples, entering the courtyard of Murom, treated Ilya with a glass of honey drink. Having drained the glass and washed it down with spring water, Ilya Muromets felt an unprecedented strength in himself and went to the field to help his parents.
After that, Ilya mounted a heroic horse and went to Kyiv. In those days, all the heroes traveled to Kyiv to serve in the heroic squad of Prince Vladimir the Red Sun. This squad was really elite, princely. And to serve there was not only interesting, but also honorable.
Having driven quite a bit from his village, Ilya Ivanovich found himself in the neighboring village of Devyatidubye. This village was notorious among the Karacharovskys. Here, on nine oaks, a large family of Nightingale the Robbers settled (see Nightingale the Robber). The most terrible was the head of the family, who sat immediately on nine oaks and waited for rare passers-by.
But neither the nightingale's whistle, nor the snake's thorn, nor the animal roar frightened the hero. Only his horse was a little frightened, which was then very ashamed in front of the owner. Ilya Muromets fired a red-hot arrow into the right eye of the Nightingale the Robber. He immediately turned and fell from the oak.
The Robber's wife, - Nightingale began to ask the hero to let her husband go, but Muromets did not believe her. And so that the Nightingale Robbers family would no longer destroy the surrounding heroes, he “cut down all the children from the Nightingale”.
Having accomplished his first feat, Ilya tied the Robber to the saddle and went to Kyiv. On the way, Ilya Ivanovich did many more good deeds: he cleared the city of Chernigov from the enemy “great powerhouse” and built several pedestrian bridges across the Smorodina River for local residents.
Having finally arrived in the capital city of Kyiv, Ilya Muromets showed Vladimir the Red Sun his trophy - the Nightingale the Robber. He, of course, immediately whistled, which greatly frightened the prince and his guests. Then the hero killed the villain, and the frightened Vladimir made Ilya Muromets his most important hero.
And on time. Because out of nowhere, a filthy Idolishche appeared in Kyiv. Everyone was scared, of course. Only Ilya Muromets was not afraid and went to battle. But here he had a slip. They had just begun to fight with Idolish, Ilya sees, he forgot his damask club somewhere. And without it, Idolishche cannot be defeated. In annoyance, Muromets took off his fur “hat of the Greek land” from his head (either his hat was from Greece, or there was land from Greece in it, the epic is silent about this) and grab her about the filthy Idolische! Here he came to an end.
Ilya Muromets provided great assistance in the defense of Kyiv from the invasion of the Golden Horde. Having met somehow with their leader Kalin Tsar, the hero first asked him to withdraw his troops from Kyiv in a good way. In response, the invader "spit in Ilya's clear eyes."
This was his fatal mistake. Ilya Muromets grabbed the gate by the legs “and began to wave: where he waved - here the streets lie, where he turns away - with alleys.” He waved Kalin, waved, and then "hit a combustible stone and crushed it into crumbs." Tsar Kalin turned out to be strong. He collected everything that was left of him and fled from near Kyiv along with the army.
And the crumbs of combustible stone still probably lie somewhere in Kyiv. And Ilya Ivanovich Muromets was a traveler. On his heroic horse, he traveled all over Ancient Rus', visited India, Turkey, Mongolia and even Karelia.
Ilya Muromets was a real hero and a good friend. He was friends with Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich (see the relevant articles). He had a very good wife, whom he affectionately called "Baba Zlatygorka" and three children: Sokolnik, Sokolnichek and Podsokolnichek.
At the end of his life, Ilya Muromets found a treasure, which he gave to Vladimir the Red Sun for the whole people. Nothing is known about the fate of this treasure. Having given the treasure, Ilya Ivanovich went to the Kyiv caves, where he completely petrified and has been in this state to this day.

CARLSON
Invented by Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. Not a wizard, not a man, not a beast. Lives on the roof, eats jam and indulges. Like any prankster, he flies, because he has a propeller behind him. In general, a completely useless person, even some kind of non-pedagogical one. On the other hand, the Kid without Carlson is very bad.
Judge for yourself, what kind of Kid is he who does not have his own Carlson?

KIKIMORA
A kind of evil spirit. Brownie's wife (see Brownie). If it is at least somehow possible to agree with Domov, then it is impossible to find a common language with home Kikimora. Quarrelsome, harmful and useless in the economy. Favorite pastime is to scare small children and confuse everything. Can't stand all men, including her husband. Likes darkness and dampness. It is found in the cellar, sometimes in a faulty refrigerator.
The wild variety of Kikimora lives in fabulous swamps, for which it received the nickname Bolotnaya. Here she waits for good fellows, whom she drowns in a quagmire with special pleasure. Often communicates with Leshim, Baba Yaga and Koshchei the Immortal (see relevant articles).

KLEPA
Quite a modern girl, a sorceress. I think she was born in France. And this is noticeable in her wonderful dress, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. He loves to travel in his free time from miracles: through time, space, sciences, cities, planets, countries ... There are no places where Klepa has not been. N. Dubinina wrote about some of her adventures in the book "Once, Klepa ...". An interesting book with pictures. Unlike other fairy tale characters - Pinocchio, Aibolit, Baba Yaga, etc. (see the relevant articles), Klepa has her own children's magazine of the same name).

KOLOBOK
Some kind of nonsense: a loaf is not a loaf, a pie is not a pie, something like a dry rich bun without raisins, but everyone wants to eat it. First, Grandfather, who asked Baba (see Grandfather and Baba) to scrape the bottom of the barrel and scrape together flour for Kolobok. Then the Hare (see Hare), then the Wolf (see Wolf), then the Bear (see Bear). He sang a song to everyone, and drove away from everyone. Then the Fox (see Fox) nevertheless outwitted him and ate him.
The most mysterious hero of Russian folk tales, because he does nothing special, and everyone loves him. This Kolobok did neither good nor evil to anyone, and everyone pities him.

QUEEN
The queen is different. Usually she is the wife of the King (see The King), but sometimes she is single. If the Queen is lonely, then she is most likely an evil sorceress, commits many evil deeds. A striking example is the Snow Queen (read “The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen). If the Queen is the second wife of the King, then she will be his stepmother to the royal children (see Stepmother).
In the best case, she is a kind, smart wife, in the past she can be Alyonushka (see Alyonushka) or Princess (see Princess).
The Queen is unhappy in her personal life. The husband-king either dies early, or, on the slander of those close to him, drives her out of the kingdom together with the heir (heiress). But that's what a fairy tale is for, so that in the end everything ends well; she either remarries, or the King realizes what an injustice he has done and asks her forgiveness.

KING ELISEY
Variety of Prince (see Prince). A real fabulous groom and hero. For the sake of his beloved, he performs various heroic deeds: he fights giants, snakes and other evil spirits, searches for his betrothed at the end of the world, kisses “on the lips of sugar”, and then he will definitely marry her and make her his Queen (see Queen).

KING
(see King). Many fairy tales begin with the words: “Once upon a time there was a King ...” So without fairy-tale kings, we would not have counted many good fairy tales.
Fairytale kings are different: there are stupid ones, there are smart ones, there are evil ones, there are also good ones. Evil kings in fairy tales end badly. They either die an unnatural death, or they are overthrown from their thrones, and good kings sit in their place. As for the good kings, they have various troubles at the beginning of the tale, but in the end everything ends well.
The King often has a princess daughter (see Princess) or a prince son, and sometimes even three sons. Then the younger one is necessarily either a fool or a prince. In both cases, the royal son marries the princess at the end of the tale, and the King has a beautiful daughter-in-law.
Often the King has a wife - the Queen (see Queen). Depending on what the King's Queen is and his fabulous life.

PUSS IN BOOTS
If you ever inherit a Cat, be kind and gentle with him. Feed him, drink, change the filler, read fairy tales aloud to him. Over time, your Cat will grow up and appreciate your care. Perhaps he will make you a Marquis of Carabas and marry a princess. Perhaps he will make you just a good person (not a marquis) and marry a simple, good girl who will become a princess anyway.
It may also happen that even without the help of the Cat, you yourself successfully marry (or get married). But in this case, the Cat will not hurt you.

KOSCHEI THE DEATHLESS
The name "Koshchei" in translation from Turkic means "prisoner". Whose prisoner he was is unknown. We see our own. Despite his surname, at the end of fairy tales, the Immortal inevitably dies, which makes him in fact the most mortal of all fairy-tale heroes.
He usually carefully hides his death in a needle, a needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a pike, a pike in a hare, a hare in a chest, a chest under oak roots, an oak stands on Buyan Island, an island on the blue sea , on the ocean”.
Koschei's appearance is the most repulsive. I don't even want to describe. The character is harmful. Constantly strives to steal the king's daughter. Either Elena the Beautiful, then Vasilisa the Wise. Steals in order to get married. But he never lives up to the wedding because he always tells his brides about the location of his death. The brides immediately report this to their rescuers-bogatyrs, and those only have to get to the reserved oak.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
“There was a girl. Her name was Little Red Riding Hood…” This is how the fairy tale of the French writer Charles Perrault begins, which he wrote more than 300 years ago for… adults (However, as well as “Cinderella”, “Puss in Boots”, “Thumb Boy” and others). The girl was called “Little Red Riding Hood” because she always walked in her bright red cap and never took it off. Even at home. Even at my grandmother's house. She loved this hat. Then Little Red Riding Hood with her grandmother was eaten by an evil Wolf (see Wolf). And if not for the hunters, she would have sat in her red cap in a wolf's belly all her life. But everything ended well.

CROCODILE GENA
Cheburashka's best friend (see Cheburashki). In childhood and adolescence, he worked in the zoo as a crocodile. And in his free time, he helped build the House of Friendship. When the house was built, he successfully went into business (read "Crocodile Gena's Business" by E. Uspensky).

HEN RYABA
Good, useful poultry. Grandfather and Baba's favorite (see Grandfather and Baba). He lives in a hut and, in gratitude for his care, carries many large, fresh eggs. Once she decided to especially thank the household and laid not a simple testicle, but a golden one. This was a mistake, because neither Grandfather nor Baba knew what to do with this egg. Out of habit, they began to beat him.
The golden egg was strong and did not break. A mouse ran past (there were mice in the house), inadvertently touched a golden egg with its tail, which fell and broke. This made the old people very upset, and they cried like children.
The smart Hen realized that the old people no longer needed the golden egg and promised them to lay an ordinary egg. Not golden, but simple. Grandfather and Baba calmed down, began to live, to live, and to make good.

Leshy
(Not to be confused with the forester). If the forester is a profession, then Goblin is destiny. Lives in a fairy-tale forest and mischief, unlike the forester, who brings only one benefit. Of all the goblin known to me, only one managed to use his powers for the benefit of society. This is Uncle Au (see Au). All the rest, as rightly written in scientific books: "a collection of evil spirits and the embodiment of the forest, as a part of space hostile to man."
He is dressed badly and warmly - in an animal skin, which he fastens from left to right and wears all year round. His shoes are also always worn backwards. The left foot is on the right foot, and the right foot is on the left foot. Growth is changeable. Now below the grass, now above the trees. When required.
Friend of Kikimora (see Kikimora). Just like her, loves children. He especially likes to lead them astray and lead them into the thicket. Cheerful. Laughs out of place and out of place, scaring hares, birds and mushroom pickers. It can turn into a bush, dry tree, stump.
In fairy tales, good fellows usually circle the forest, preventing them from reaching the red maidens languishing in the hut of Baba Yaga or the hole of the Serpent Gorynych (see Baba Yaga, Serpent Gorynych). But good fellows are not children. You don't mess with them. So Leshy has to shamefully run away from them into the thicket.
What Leshy eats and what he thinks about in his free time is unknown to anyone, and no one is interested in this.
So they say: “Well, go to Leshem.”

FOX
The most cunning, insidious and eloquent animal that lives in the vastness of folk tales. Lives by deceit and for the sake of deceit. He constantly steals the Rooster (see Rooster), eats the Gingerbread Man (see Gingerbread Man), drives the Hare out of the bast hut (see Hare). She deceives even her close, but stupid relative - the Wolf (see Wolf). Despite these negative qualities, the Fox (nicknames: Red, Cheat, Sister, Kuma, etc.) is distinguished by beauty and femininity.

cannibal
The most unpleasant fairy-tale type. Lives alone, in a dense forest. Eats badly and irregularly, mostly by wayward travelers, boys and girls. Growth - a giant (see Giant). Just like Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga) is a good cook. Innocent. It is easy to carry it out. Puss in Boots (see Puss in Boots), for example, deceived him by taking advantage of the Cannibal's passion for transformations.
It is best to run away from him when he falls asleep or goes hunting. There is another proven way (read “Boy with a finger”).

FROG
In all fairy tales, she is a kind housewife - “she bakes cabbage pies, very fatty and tasty” both in the tower and in the tower of Ivan Tsarevich (see Ivan Tsarevich), and at the same time she sews wonderful shirts and elegant dresses. A frog is good for everyone, only it is painfully scary and unpleasant to the touch.
But as soon as she throws off her frog skin, a beauty is immediately in front of us (see Princess). She dances like a swan princess, helps her husband in everything, in short - a smart girl.
Only once Ivan Tsarevich hurried up, burned her skin in the stove, and for this he had to get ready again on the road, to save his wife. In fairy tales, the Frog is loved. Here she is always, if not held in high esteem, then certainly not offended. But in life they treat her differently. They are afraid and shy. They say that she can jinx a person, and cause rain, and a storm, and, they say, she is poisonous and is known with evil spirits.
And they also say that frogs originated from people who drowned in the Great Flood. There is another version that they came from Egyptian soldiers - the "Pharaoh's army", which drove the Jews out of Egypt. This same army was so carried away by the process of expulsion that they did not notice how they entered the sea. And since the Pharaoh's army was not sea, but land and did not know how to swim, everything immediately drowned.
Popular rumor says that someday everything will change, and the frogs will become people again.

LITTLE MUCK
The hero of the oriental tale of the German writer Wilhelm Hauf. Born in the city of Nike, and his full name was Mukra. He was small, and his father was a respectable and completely uneducated man. Once he fell from somewhere, badly hurt himself and died, leaving sixteen-year-old Muk in poverty and ignorance. He went wherever his eyes looked, and in one city he finally ended up in the service of a lonely witch (see Witch), who had many cats and dogs. After living with her for some time, he ran away, because the owners of the cat were completely insolent and behaved somehow.
As a reward, Muk took magical walking shoes and a cane from the Witch, which knew how to search for treasures. With all this goodness, he came to the neighboring kingdom and got a job as a royal runner. (In those days there were no couriers and courier trains, so all urgent news was carried by runners).
Once, due to the evil slander of the courtiers, little Muk was seized and accused of theft. To avoid death, he had to give the King (see King) both the magic shoes and the cane. Poor and small, Muk came to the forest where the figs grew. (I must report that there are countries where figs are in the habit of growing on trees.) The figs were sweet and Muk ate them. Then he grew long ears and a nose. Muk looked into the lake, saw himself and realized that it was all over. Finally, he swallowed a few more figs from another tree and ... suddenly saw that everything fell into place - both ears and nose. Then he picked up figs (or otherwise - figs) and went to the King. There Muk fed the King with figs, and he immediately grew long donkey ears. The king was frightened and returned little Muk his shoes and cane. And little Muk never gave him the ear-reducing figure. He just showed it from afar and left.
Many years have passed since then. Little Muk became old and returned to his hometown. There he lives, surrounded by the respect of his neighbors.

BOY-FINGER
The youngest and smallest of all his brothers. He is the size of a little finger. Despite such a significant shortcoming, he was the smartest: he overheard a conversation of his parents at night that they were not able to feed so many children at once and were going to take him and his brothers into the forest to be torn to pieces by wild animals.
Therefore, the Little Thumb immediately took white pebbles into his pocket, and when in the morning the unfortunate father, shedding tears, led his children into the dark forest, he slowly threw the pebbles onto the road.
Then, when the children ended up in the Ogre's house (see the Ogre), the Thumb Boy also deceived him and led the brothers home safe and sound, piece by piece. Parents have long since repented of their deeds and were very happy when their children returned. They didn't do such stupid things anymore. Moreover, when the Boy with a finger, when he grew up, he was probably able to provide for their entire large family.

MOWGLI
Forest Indian boy from Rudyard Kipling's fairy tale. Once in the jungle he (Mowgli) was stolen by a Tiger. But the circumstances were such that he could not immediately eat it, which he later regretted all his life. But it was already too late. Mowgli picked up a pack of wolves and made a real person out of him.
Mowgli had many friends in the jungle - Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther, Kaa the boa constrictor and other forest dwellers. He did not like monkeys, because they were humanoid and grimaced all the time. He did not like Mowgli and the tiger Sher Khan, who always did bad things to him.
Finally, Mowgli found the right remedy for Sher Khan - "red flower" - as the locals of the jungle called the fire.
Time passed, Mowgli became an adult and, finally, it was time for him to get married. He said goodbye to his friends and went to the village, where he found his bride, and at the same time his mother.

STEPMOTHER
Evil, nasty wife of a kind and spineless father. She usually has one or even two daughters of her own. Just like herself. If the Stepmother has several daughters, then she unsuccessfully tries to give them one after another to the Prince (see Prince). If there is only one daughter, then she makes her stepdaughter jump into a deep well for a bucket, or in winter, in the very cold, she kicks her out for snowdrops.
If the Stepmother has no one but a weak-willed husband, then she tries with all her might to destroy her stepdaughter, leads her into a dense forest, and then poisons her with bulk apples.
But she can't do anything. Princes do not like her lazy daughters, the magic mirror tells the whole truth, despite her unpleasant face, but the stepdaughter always marries Korolevich Elisey (see Korolevich Elisey), or in extreme cases receives a good dowry from Moroz Ivanovich (see Santa Claus).

BEAR
The hero of so many fairy tales, folk and non-folk - ordinary. In some way, the Bear is also a hero. Strong, like a man. Bear's feet and toes are human, he washes like a man, sometimes he walks on his hind legs, understands when you talk to him, dances, sucks his paw. So in the dark it is quite possible to mistake him for a person. Even guard dogs often confuse him, and bark in the same way as at a passerby.
The ancients believed that if you remove the skin from a bear, then inside it looks exactly like a man without clothes. (This is easy to check. You need to put on a fur coat and look in the mirror).
In fairy tales, as in life, the Bear is completely unpredictable. Therefore, they do not like to meet with him. It is not clear what to expect from him. Either he will eat you, or he will simply lead you to his forest hut (in fairy tales, the Bear is often in a hut, but in life - in a den) and feed you with what God sent. It all depends on the mood of the Bear.
A bear in the forest knows the goblin, with Baba Yaga (see Leshy, Baba Yaga), often serves with them, and on the other hand, it can help: uproot an oak tree so that Ivan Tsarevich (see Ivan Tsarevich) from there a chest with Koshcheeva's death got.
Like any person, the Bear has a name. We often call him Mikhailo Ivanych or Mikhailo Potapych. Whoever is closer familiar, he simply calls Potapych, or simply Misha.

SEA KING
The same as the devil (see the devil) only underwater, marine. In fairy tales, at first he pretends to help the protagonist get out of a hopeless situation (and, indeed, helps), but then he demands for this that either the hero himself or his son go down to the seabed for a favor. The hero descends to the Sea King and becomes his prisoner. It’s good that the king often has a beautiful daughter named Vasilisa the Wise (see Vasilisa the Wise). She falls in love with the hero and helps him escape. True, along with her.
The sea king chases the young, but cannot overtake them. A similar story happened to a Novgorod merchant named Sadko. He played the harp very well. Almost like Dobrynya Nikitich (see Dobrynya Nikitich). And the King of the Sea liked his game so much that he decided to lure Sadko to him. And then the case turned up: Sadko rashly argued with other merchants that he would catch “golden feather fish” (a kind of freshwater goldfish) in Lake Ilmen. And he made a big bet. Here the Sea King helped him. He has in the kingdom of these golden-finned fish (see Fish) as much as his heart desires.
And when Sadko set off on merchant ships by sea, then the Sea King reminded him of his debt. The merchant had to go to the bottom with the harp. He comes to the royal chambers and begins to work off his debt, to play the harp. The sea king was delighted, sang, danced ... The sea, of course, became agitated, a storm arose, the ships began to sink in such numbers that they did not have time to dodge them at the bottom.
Sees Sadko - it's bad business. He took and broke the strings.
- That's it, - he says, - he didn't take any spares. There will be no more music.
Then the Sea King decided to marry his captive guest to his daughter, a sea maiden. Here they played a wedding.
Well, then, you know what happened. Sadko returned home, he sees that his ships sailed with rich goods, and he began to live and live and make good.

MUNCHHAUSEN is an ordinary honest German baron who lived more than 200 years ago. His name was Baron von Karl-Friedrich-Jerome-Munchausen. Member of the Russian-Turkish war (1735-1739). After the end of the war, Munchausen was demobilized and settled on his estate near the city of Hanover. Here he liked to gather cheerful companies and talk about his military exploits and travels around Russia.
Once these stories were heard by the German writer Rudolf-Erich Raspe. When he heard them, he laughed, and then immediately emigrated to England. Here he wrote and published a book called "The Narrative of Baron Munchausen about his wonderful travels and campaigns in Russia." Although Raspe added quite a lot to the stories of Munchausen, he did not put his name under this work.
A few years later, this book fell into the hands of another German writer, the poet Gottfried-August Burger. He also decided to add some stories to it. And he not only composed, but also published it under a new title: “The amazing travels of Baron von Munchausen on water and on land. Hiking and fun adventures, as he used to talk about them over a bottle of wine with his friends.”
This is how the stories of Baron von Munchausen appeared - the most truthful person in the world, which I highly recommend reading. Who knows, maybe after that another book about Munchausen will appear - yours.

DON'T KNOW
The most attractive shorty from the Sunny city. A kind of Ivan the Fool (see Ivan the Fool), only very small - smaller than the Boy with a finger (see Boy with a finger). The writer Nikolai Nosov came up with fairy tales about Dunno and his friends. Despite the fact that a lot of other short men lived in the Sunny City, Dunno is loved the most. He is the most naughty, curious, stubborn and snooty. If Dunno went to school, he would be a round loser. But, fortunately for the teachers, he did not study at school, but was self-taught. He himself learned to write poetry, drive a car, fly a balloon and control a magic wand.
All this turned out badly for him, but ended well. Despite the fact that Dunno is a literary hero, he is loved as a folk

NIKITA KOZHEMIAKA
This story started out scary. I won’t retell, everything is written in the tale itself: “A snake appeared near Kyiv, he took considerable requisitions from the people: a red girl from each yard. Take the girl and eat her. The time has come to go to that serpent of the king's daughter. The snake grabbed the princess and dragged her to his lair, but did not eat her: she was a beauty, so he took her for his wife. The snake will fly to its crafts, and the princess will fill up with logs so that she does not leave.
And so, as usual, the princess, littered with logs, sits in a snake's lair and writes a letter to her parents. (Her letters were delivered by one dog, who loved the princess very much and was devoted to her). In the letter there was a request: to find at least some hero, so that he was stronger than the snake. They didn't know what to answer.
And the Serpent Gorynych (see the Serpent Gorynych), I must say, was the same talker as Koschey the Immortal (see Koschey the Immortal). He let slip to his wife that only Nikita Kozhemyak was stronger than him. The wife immediately informed her father about this, he immediately found the hero.
Nikita was from an ordinary family. A simple leather worker. He crumpled leather for sheepskin coats, hats and shoes. And when he saw that the tsar himself had come to his workshop, he was frightened. Nikita was not afraid of anyone. Only the king. As soon as he saw him, Kozhemyaka's hands trembled and he immediately tore 12 skins. This one was strong.
And when it broke, he was very upset. The skins were good, dear. In frustration, he refused to help the king. But he did not get angry, but gathered five thousand children and ordered them to ask for Princess Nikita Kozhemyaka. Here Nikita could not refuse and even shed a tear. Then the hero wiped away his tears, took 300 pounds of hemp (this is 4,800 kilograms, almost five tons!), tied himself with this hemp, and then tarred it for a fortress.
As the Serpent Gorynych saw Nikita tied with hemp, he understood that the end had come for him. I harnessed Kozhemyak Gorynych to a plow (it also weighed about five tons) and began to plow between it. From “Kyiv to the Caustrian Sea”. He plowed, and then drowned the snake in this sea.
Nikita Kozhemyaka did not take a penny from the tsar for his feat, and did not even marry the princess (see Tsarevna).

PAPA CARLO
A simple street organ grinder, the carpenter's best friend Giuseppe and Pinocchio's father (see Pinocchio). He fashioned his disobedient son from an ordinary log and tried to educate him. It turned out to be not so easy, because it is very difficult, being a poor organ grinder, to educate yesterday's log. However, the kindness, dedication and love of the father for his son bore fruit over time. The son, having gone through a great school of life, became a wooden artist. This result allows us to assert that a genuine teacher is able to educate a real person from anything.

ROOSTER
A wonderful bird in every way. The most beautiful in our latitudes: “golden comb, butter beard, silk beard ...” Somehow, it is connected with the Sun. Crows before sunrise and before sunset. Therefore, apparently, any fabulous evil spirits do not like roosters very much.
If the Rooster gets into trouble, he is sure to be rescued. And he himself is a true friend and assistant. His main enemy is the Fox (see Fox). The cheat invents all kinds of ways to eat it. Sometimes it is very close to the target. But not once in fairy tales did the Fox manage to do this.
Moreover, the Rooster often manages to deceive the Fox and restore the violated justice. All this allows us to talk about the Rooster as our national fairy-tale hero.
The character of the Rooster is violent, cocky, restless. His name is usually Petya. Why not Vasya or Boris Gavrilovich is unknown. In any case, he responds only to Petya. And this means that his patronymic is Petrovich. So - Peter Petrovich. Roosters don't have last names.
In some fairy tales, the Rooster is at odds with the autocracy. In Pushkin's fairy tale about the Golden Cockerel, he pecked at the crown of the head of Tsar Dodon and thereby caused his untimely death. Nothing is known about the relationship of the Rooster to other representatives of power and types of government.
In Russia, roosters have always been treated with respect. They even called them “master” and cooked delicious cabbage soup out of them. A good rooster protects the house from diseases and evil spirits. If the rooster sings on the threshold of the house - wait for the guests. If crowed at the wrong time - wait for the news.

PRINCE
The son of the King (see King), the groom of the future princess (see Princess). Kind, beautiful, strong and fair. But it should not be assumed that the Prince must be of royal blood. So thought one Princess, who drove the Swineherd away and then bitterly repented. Because it turned out that the real Prince disguised himself as the Swineherd.
So if you are a real Princess, and your fiance is the best in the world, then he is your Prince, or someday he will be.

PRINCESS
There are two types: good and bad. A good Princess is a kind, sympathetic, courageous girl. Most often - the former Cinderella (see Cinderella). Bad - on the contrary: capricious, wayward, lazy. (More often than not, his future Stepmother (see Stepmother). The heroine of hundreds of fairy tales. If it weren’t for the princess in fairy tales, there would be no one to look for, free, protect, no one to help, no one to marry. So the Princess is in some way the most important fairy-tale heroine.

PROSPERO
Heroic personality. A professional revolutionary from Yuri Olesha's fairy tale "Three Fat Men". As a result of the first failed uprising against the authorities, three fat men who terribly oppressed the people ended up behind bars in the basement where the government zoo was located. From there he was rescued by a simple circus girl named Suok and another revolutionary - also a professional circus performer - gymnast Tibul.
After the release of Prospero, he nevertheless made a revolution and drove out three fat men. What happened next is unknown, probably everyone began to live happily and no one was overthrown anymore.

FISH
In fairy tales, it reaches fantastic proportions. One whale fish is worth something. The whole island! Yes, the island, the whole earth, according to some fabulous information, rests on three whales. They say that it used to stand on even four, but one of them died of old age, which is why the Great Flood happened. However, this information is often refuted by others, more plausible, where it is stated that the earth was not established on three whales, but only on two fish lying crosswise.
Big fish swallow ships from time to time in fairy tales. They do the same with some fairy tale characters. But a hero cannot be swallowed with impunity. Once in a fish belly, he behaves like a sports fisherman: he builds a fire and cooks fish soup. The fish, of course, immediately develops a terrible heartburn, and, for the purpose of self-treatment, it releases the eaten to freedom (Usually this happens just off its native shores).
Fairy fish love to swallow various rings and other jewelry that Princesses and Queens lose (see Princess, Queen). After that, they are immediately fished out by poor fishermen who fish for the royal table. So if you ever dine at the royal palace, please eat fish very carefully.
In addition to the above fish breeds, in fairy tales you can meet Ruff Ershovich (an extremely prickly, ruffy and inedible creature), Pike, known for its talkativeness and magical qualities, Goldfish that fulfills all desires, as well as: magical Sturgeon, stupid Carp, sinister Eel, fussy Herring and many others inhabiting the deep-sea fairy-tale world.

SALTAN
Some confuse Tsar Saltan with the Turkish Saltan Saltanovich. This error occurs because they are namesakes. But there is nothing else in common between them. Because Tsar Saltan is a simple fairy-tale king who married a peasant girl, who, as promised, gave birth to a hero (see Guidon). Saltan Saltanovich is an ordinary villain, whom Ilya Muromets (see Ilya Muromets) shot with a bow. And serve him right. Because after that everyone began to live happily.

SEVEN SEEDS
(They are Seven Simeons)
This is a very interesting character of fairy tales. What is interesting about him is that he is not alone, but seven of them - the Semenov brothers. Each individual is neither one nor the other. And together - fairy-tale heroes.
They were born in the village "to one peasant" - all the good fellow is better. Yes, that's the trouble - everyone is lazy. They didn't do anything. The father suffered with them, suffered, and then he took them and took them to the service of the Tsar (see Tsar). The king, of course, was delighted at first. Seven heroes have arrived! And when he realized who the man brought him, it was already too late. That and the trace caught a cold.
He began to think what to do with the lazy Seeds. Thought and thought and thought. He sent them to steal a princess from a neighboring overseas kingdom in order to marry her later. Seeds got on the ship and sailed. They sailed, stole the princess and returned safely. Only the princess was slightly wounded in the left hand on the way, because she “suddenly turned into a white swan” and tried to fly away. But nothing came of it, because among the Semyonovs there was one very accurate shooter. He shot the princess in the left wing.
The Tsar of the Seven Semenov thanked for their service and rewarded them. And the princess did not marry the king. Because he was very old. She chose as her wife the eldest Semyon, who personally stole her from the overseas kingdom. And the Tsar was not offended at all by them, he was even delighted and once again rewarded Semyonov. These are the rich people.

SISTER ALENUSHKA
A very good girl. Suffer a lot. Sometimes it comes from a peasant family, sometimes from a royal family. She usually has a naughty younger brother, Ivanushka. At the very beginning of the tale, her parents die immediately, but for some reason she does not become a queen. Probably too small, and the children have to go in all four directions. On the way, misfortune occurs: Ivanushka, not listening to Alyonushka, drinks from a puddle and turns into a kid. In this position they are found by one unmarried Tsar (see Tsar). He immediately falls in love and marries Alyonushka. And so they would have lived happily all three: husband, wife and kid, but then out of nowhere the Witch appears (see Witch). Most likely, she herself wants to marry the Tsar, so she brings damage to Alyonushka. She wilts and withers before our eyes.
And then this sorceress under the guise of a healer (this is a doctor who treats with traditional folk remedies) comes to her and promises to cure. The Witch brought Alyonushka to the sea, tied a stone around her neck and threw it into the water. That's all treatment.
The Witch herself turned into Alyonushka and went to the royal chambers. But everything ended well; The little kid eventually led the Tsar to the sea, Alyonushka surfaced, the Tsar removed a stone from her neck and led him to the royal palace. And the evil witch was burned at the stake. “After that, the Tsar with the Tsaritsa and the Little Kid began to live and live, and make good.”

BLUE BEARD
Bad personality. I don't even want to write about it. But, for the edification of frivolous girls, it is necessary. “Bluebeard” is the nickname of a man whose name no one already knows and does not want to know. A notorious villain, a criminal, a rich French nobleman of a heroic physique. He did not give alms to anyone, did not go to church, lived alone in the castle, which was called Bluebeard's Castle. He was friends only with his dogs - three Great Danes, huge and strong, like bulls. He regularly went to the forest to hunt on a hefty black horse. He was married seven times. In short, villain!
Returning from another hunt, he grabbed a girl on the road, who went out for a walk at the wrong time. At the castle, Beard announced to her that she would now be his eighth wife. On this, the courtship of the villain ended, and difficult family everyday life began for the girl.
Once Bluebeard once again left for three months to hunt. Before leaving, he gave his wife seven keys (the lock was large), punishing her not to unlock anything with the seventh key. In this act, the whole insidious essence of Bluebeard was manifested. If he really did not want his wife not to unlock the seventh room, he would never have given her this key. But he understood that his wife would be tormented by curiosity. And since Bluebeard was a real tormentor of his wives, he gave her this key.
I gave it and I didn't make a mistake. The wife suffered, suffered and ... opened the seventh door. Horror seized the unfortunate woman at the sight of her seven dead predecessors. The rest is known even to a child. She dropped the key, which was stained with blood, then the villainous husband arrived and, seeing that his wife knew his terrible secret, began to sharpen a knife on her.
Fortunately, two of her brothers managed to arrive. For an hour they fought with their criminal brother-in-law and finally killed him. Since then, this girl completely got rid of curiosity and began to live happily.

SNOW MAIDEN
Granddaughter of Santa Claus (see Santa Claus). Helps grandfather to distribute gifts to children. Nothing is known about her parents. Probably an orphan. Unlike her grandfather, she is very smart and resourceful. He knows a lot of games, riddles, poems about the New Year. He is friends with good forest dwellers: squirrels, hedgehogs, bunnies, etc.).
As a result, all the intrigues of the enemies of Santa Claus (Wolf, Fox, Baba Yaga, Leshy, etc.) always fail.

SOLDIER
Brave, funny and resourceful hero. He often appears in the fairy tale, returning home after 25 years of service. So he is an old man. Nevertheless, at the end of the tale, he sometimes marries a good girl whom he helped out of trouble: he saved from the devil or from the Serpent Gorynych (see the devil, Serpent Gorynych).
The soldier likes to go to some village to the meanest Baba (see Baba) to eat and rest. He succeeds, because the Soldier is an experienced person. Either he will cook soup from an ax, or he will guess such riddles that even the Serpent Gorynych will not guess them, not to mention Baba Yaga (see Baba Yaga).

Nightingale the Robber
Countryman of Ilya Muromets (the village of Devyatidubye was located next to the village of Karacharovo). In fairy tales, he lives with his whole family (his wife Nightingale and children Solovyats) on nine oaks, where he whistles and robs. It whistles so loudly and piercingly that no hero can withstand such a whistle. Only Ilya Muromets (see Ilya Muromets) was able to defeat the Nightingale the Robber.
Therefore, it is clear that a subtle ear for music sometimes only interferes with real heroes.

THREE PIGLETS
Heroes of the English folk tale. Actually, only the third Piglet was the hero of them, because the first two, unfortunately, were eaten by the Wolf (see Wolf). He ate it, because the story of how all the pigs got together in the stone house of the third, unfortunately, is the fiction of the wonderful American animator Walt Disney and the no less wonderful Russian writer Sergei Mikhalkov.
In fact, both piglets, who built houses from straw and brushwood, fell victim to their carelessness. But the denouement of this drama was terrible for the Wolf himself. Having devoured two milk brothers-pigs, he went to the stone house of the third. It was a real pig fortress, so the Wolf decided to take it by cunning. He tried several times to lure Piglet out of the house. But he turned out to be smarter, and the Wolf had no choice but to go on the assault. The assault was carried out through the chimney, from where the gray robber fell exactly to the place specified by the third Piglet - into a boiling cauldron.
Now listen to what really happened to the Wolf: “... Piglet instantly closed the lid of the boiler and did not remove it until the wolf was cooked. Then he ate it at dinner and lived happily, and still lives like that.

QUEEN
(see Queen). The character depends on what kind of King she has (see King). If he is an independent man, a real fair autocrat, then the Queen is usually kind, submissive and patient. If soft and lazy, she becomes cruel, angry and narcissistic.
A good and fair Queen is not uncommon, but she is not the main fairy tale character. Her son, daughter, husband or adviser becomes the main one. If the Queen is evil, then she immediately finds herself in the main characters of the fairy tale. No one loves her, but she loves herself very much.
At the end of the tale, the good Queen triumphs along with justice and the main characters, while the bad one is roughly punished. After her punishment, someone's merry wedding is usually played.

TSAR
(see King) Lives either in “a certain kingdom in a certain state” or in a “Far Far Away kingdom, a far away state”. The figure is complex and contradictory. On the one hand - a kind family man, a good husband and father, a brave warrior. On the other hand, it can behave frivolously or too trustingly. He promises in haste, for example, to the Sea King or the devil (see Sea King, devil) “what he doesn’t know at home” (usually his newborn son or daughter), and then the children have to fight the whole fairy tale with evil spirits. Or another example - the Tsar will believe in slanders against his wife and drive her out of the kingdom with a small child. Yes, it’s even better if he just drives him away, otherwise he orders him to be tarred in a barrel and thrown into the sea, or tied in a forest more often to a tree to be eaten by wolves.
By old age, he often becomes inclined to solve the simplest everyday questions in the most fabulous way; For example, in order to marry his three sons, he tells them to shoot arrows in different directions. It’s good that in fairy tales arrows fly where they need to: to a boyar’s daughter, to a merchant’s, to the Frog Princess (see Frog). What if the brothers missed?
The King is not much different from the King. Usually he is the hero of Russian fairy tales (read “Russian folk tales”), and the King is the hero of foreign ones (read “Tales of the peoples of the world”). Although sometimes (very rarely) it happens that the King (or the Prince) lives in our fairy tale and it doesn’t even occur to him that he is a foreigner.
The king is one of the main fairy-tale figures. What kind of fairy tale will be depends on his behavior - scary or funny, happy or sad. However, this is not only in fairy tales, it is everywhere.

CHEBURASHKA
You may be surprised, but even your grandmother was the first Cheburashka, when she was still very small. It happened a long time ago. It was winter, in Moscow. The future author of Cheburashka, the writer Eduard Uspensky, once saw in the yard a girl of three years old who was walking with her mother. The girl was wearing a long furry fur coat, bought for growth. She stumbled and fell all the time in this huge fur coat. And her mother raised her all the time and said: “Oh, you, Cheburashka ...” The writer liked this word and he named his fairy-tale hero with it.
Since then, this “animal unknown to science” has appeared, which, according to the author, came to us in a box of oranges. Since oranges in those days were brought primarily to Moscow, Cheburashka settled here. At first, he had a bad time with housing, and he lived in a pay phone booth, where he met Crocodile Gena.
Later, having got used to it a little, he, together with his friends, built the House of Friendship and began to live, live, and make good ..

CRAP
In one word - "unclean". Lives in the underworld, deep underground. There he, along with fellow workers, torments sinners who behaved incorrectly in life.
It looks unpleasant: all in black wool, with horns, a tail and smells of sulfur. The spitting image of a black goat, if he stands on his hind legs. Only the goat has no wings, but the fairy-tale devil does. Small ones, black ones, are also unpleasant. Just like the Wolf and the Bear (see Wolf, Bear) can turn into a person. And also - in a pig, a snake, a dog and a black cat.
If the devil turns into a man, then for some reason he prefers to be a miller or a blacksmith. Probably knows these professions well.
Most often, the devil appears in fairy tales after 12 at night and disappears at dawn, having heard a cock crow. From time to time, however, it is also a day.
Meeting him does not bode well. But if he meets in a fairy tale with a Soldier or Balda, then his case is bad. They will deceive, they will rob you to the wool, they will achieve their goal and it’s good if they let you go right away. And then the whole fairy tale will have to serve them faithfully and help the devil. He is friends with other devils, goblin, brownies, the Sea King and Baba Yaga (see the Sea King and Baba Yaga).
And he has no more friends and can not be.

LIZARD
It can be an enchanted princess, a witch, or the Mistress of the Copper Mountain (see Queen). It cannot be argued that the lizard necessarily refers to evil spirits. In fairy tales, sometimes quite worthy people and wizards turn into lizards. By her appearance, one can discern who turned into her. If the Lizard is green - a girl or a woman, if gray - a young man or a man.
If the Lizard does not burn in the fire, then it is a salamander, if it burns, it is a witch. The bite of a fairy lizard is poisonous and even deadly. According to scholarly books, a person bitten by a lizard cannot be cured until “he hears the roar of a donkey, until he counts a grain of a whole measure of millet, until he finds nine white mares and nine sisters, and drinks milk from nine sisters.” You understand that by the time he does all this, he will definitely die.
If not from a bite, then from overwork. Therefore, lizards, especially fabulous ones, must be protected.