The heroes of Russian folk tales create the mythical and sometimes even mystical reality of Russian folk tales, because these heroes are a separate part of the life of our ancestors. All those magical powers that they possessed and in which the ancient inhabitants believed have come down to us, although they are described more modern language, but at the same time not losing each of their uniqueness and type.
They are familiar to us all, as are their heroes, characters, and destinies. Let's see if you know all the heroes and if they are all familiar to your children. We will give pictures of heroes of Russian folk tales to make it easier for you to remember and imagine them. Maybe you can even decide who your favorite Russian folk tale hero is.
Ivan Tsarevich, who is also Ivan is a fool and Ivan is a peasant son. His main qualities are always described as kindness and nobility. In all fairy tales, Ivan Tsarevich helps other people and, in the end, lives happily. The character of Russian folk tales, Ivan the Fool, teaches us to listen to our hearts and listen to our intuition, to go through all difficulties with honor and not to lose heart. Often in such fairy tales we meet a gray wolf or a horse loyal to Ivan. The wolf usually symbolizes intelligence and cunning, and the horse, for example, Sivka-Burka, symbolizes devotion and fidelity, helping the hero in all his adventures.
The next familiar character from Russian folk tales is 
Snow Maiden. This heroine is a symbol of female tenderness and vulnerability, a bright soul and purity. Tales about her show that a person can create whatever he wants, that his potential is limitless, but what he creates has no heart and therefore sooner or later disappears, goes into oblivion.
One of the most beautiful options You can find fairy tales with the Snow Maiden in the section. And the Snow Maiden is like a white snowflake, with eyes like blue beads, a brown braid down to her waist...
Not only kind and positive heroes occupy our children. They also like the negative heroes of fairy tales, for example, Baba Yaga or sometimes Yaga-Yaginishna. This character in Russian folk tales is the oldest and most multifaceted. She lives in a big scary forest, which you need to avoid and God forbid you get into her hut on chicken legs. Baba Yaga is a Russian mythical creature, she can cast magic and bewitch, and more often harms the heroes of fairy tales than helps. Baba Yaga is most often depicted with a big nose, in a mortar and with a broom. This is how we all remember her.
The land of fairy tales is the most amazing and wonderful of all countries. Where else, if not here, can you see a carpet - an airplane in the sky, walking through the forest, meet the Gray Wolf and Fox Patrikeevna speaking human language, or accidentally come across the dilapidated hut of Baba Yaga.
The Russian people have an innumerable number of fairy tales. Russian people lived among nature, the forests were dense around them. It was scary for a person in such a forest; much was incomprehensible. Trying to explain something, to calm down, to amuse themselves, our ancestors came up with tales, legends, stories in which the heroes were water creatures, goblins, kikimoras, and also plants or animals.
Fairy tales are also a repository of information forgotten by people about events that happened so long ago that it is difficult to remember. Any fairy tale carries at least two levels of information: general and hidden. The general level speaks about what is good and what is bad in a given society. But the hidden one talks about life in distant times, shades true heroes to obtain fairy-tale characters that are well recognized by readers and storytellers of any generation.
I present to you the ten most popular fairy-tale heroes Russian folk fairy tales:
In 10th place is the well-known master of disguise, the Frog Princess, who successfully took part in the fairy tale of the same name.
In 9th place is the miracle of domestic poultry farming: the magnificent and inimitable Firebird from the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf”.
And in 8th place is a resident of dense forests, sometimes kind, sometimes evil, the unique Leshy with the fairy tale “The King’s Son and His Uncle.”
In 7th place is an expensive, incredibly beautiful Goldfish, which managed to take part in two fairy tales
"Gold fish",
"Golden Slipper"
6th place is taken by the most terrible monster with an indefinite number of heads, the nasty Miracle Yudo, who caused trouble in two fairy tales:
"Ivan the Peasant Son and Miracle Yudo"
"Ivan Bykovich."
On the 5th line of our hit parade is a hybrid of human and animal, a little stupid and terribly greedy Damn. He "lit up" in three cautionary tales:
"Golden Axe"
"Unwashing"
"The Enchanted Queen".
The tireless horse Sivka-Burka rightfully takes 4th place with the following three tales:
"Sivka-Burka"
“A pig has golden bristles, a duck has golden feathers, a golden-horned deer and a golden-maned horse,”
Well, we've reached the top three winners of our hit parade.
The honorable 3rd place is occupied by the well-known, slender and now living Koschey the Immortal. This old man “spoiled the blood” of the participants in seven fairy tales:
"Princess Frog",
"Snake Princess"
"Koschei the Deathless",
"Elena the Wise"
"Marya Morevna"
"Well done Bulat"
"The Tale of Koshchei the Immortal».
On the 2nd position of our hit parade is a recognizable snake with a personality disorder and fiery character, the inimitable Serpent Gorynych. He inherited in 11 tales:
"The sworn prince"
« Crystal Mountain»,
"Ivan the Tsarevich and Martha the Princess"
"Nikita Kozhemyaka"
"About a stupid snake and a smart soldier"
"Kuzma Skorobogatiy"
"Animal milk"
"Ivan Goroshko"
"Wonderful shirt"
"Two Ivan soldier's sons"
“About Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych.”
The serpent Gorynych is associated with fire and water, flies across the sky, but at the same time it also correlates with the bottom - with a river, a hole, a cave, where he has hidden wealth, a kidnapped princess (or three princesses), a noble bride, “Russian fulls”; There are also numerous offspring of Zmey Gorynych - “little snakes”.
Well, the winner is a terribly attractive girl of unknown age, a merry, laughing Baba Yaga. This is the most frequently encountered character in Russian folk tales. I counted 18 fairy tales, but this list can be continued:
"Vasilisa the Beautiful"
"The Enchanted Princess"
"Stepdaughter and stepmother's daughter"
"A Tale of Two Sisters"
"Ivan Tsarevich and Bely Polyanin"
"Marya Morevna"
"Ivan Bykovich"
"Light Moon"
"The Grateful Dead"
“Go there - I don’t know where, bring that - I don’t know what”
"The Tale of Koshchei the Immortal"
"Baba Yaga"
"Tereshechka"
"Swan geese",
"Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka"
“Knee-deep in gold, elbow-deep in silver”
"Princess Frog",
"The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water."
This is what the top ten most popular fairy-tale characters from Russian folk tales look like.
Prototypes of heroes of Russian folk tales
Where in fairy tales, which are simply a reflection folk myths, and those, in turn, with half-forgotten facts from life, similar fairy-tale images appeared?
I will reveal to you the secrets of the most popular fairy-tale characters who were among the top three winners.
The secret of Koshchei the Immortal.
There are several versions.
First. The Encyclopedia “Myths of the Peoples of the World” says that Koschey means “captive”, “slave”. The word is borrowed from Turkic language, and is connected, rather, with the slavery not of Koshchei himself, but of the girls and boys whom he abducted. That is, initially, captives of an evil sorcerer or deity were called kashchei, and then the common noun became a proper noun. And now we know only one Koshchei - the Immortal.
Second. They call Koshchei the Immortal not because he cannot die, but because his Death is hidden too far. So in the fairy tale “Koshey the Immortal” - he says: “I have death in such and such a place; there is an oak tree, under the oak tree there is a box, in the box there is a hare, in the hare there is a duck, in the duck there is an egg, in the egg is my death.”
Third. If you look at this issue from a mythological point of view, you can see that Koschey, personifying Winter, Cold, Death, steals Love and Beauty in the faces of young girls, so that Spring does not come, so that permafrost and darkness are established. But there is a good fellow - Ivan Tsarevich, a symbol Sunlight and Warm spring Thunder and Rain. With the help of the forces of nature (magical beasts), he defeats Death, and Spring comes to Earth.
Now let's try to imagine what Koschey the Immortal looked or could have looked like. Fairy tales and drawings for them made by artists will help us with this. They are the ones who create the image, the portrait of the hero we read about in a book or a fairy tale.
I conducted a small survey among my friends. 10 people took part in it. I asked how you imagine Koshchei the Immortal, and received approximately the same answer. Everyone sees an old, very thin, rather skinny and bony man who resembles a skeleton covered in skin. But he is not a weak old man, but very strong, one might say, wiry. Well, his character is harmful, evil, voluptuous, greedy (most likely even stingy), and he is completely unpolite, rude and ungrateful.
Of course, Koshchei has a lot of wealth, gold, and various silver. He accumulates these riches so that he can later give a wedding gift to his bride. But since he steals brides from other suitors, and he himself does not look young and handsome, the brides all run away from him, ultimately with their real gentlemen - princes and princes. But this does not indicate that Koschey is stingy. He’s just thrifty and saving money for something very important to him.
Until now, the name Koshchei is used to call old misers, withered from stinginess and trembling over a hidden treasure, largely thanks to Pushkin and his lines:
"There the King of Koschey is wasting away over gold."
Koschey to this day remains one of the most colorful characters in fairy tales, about whom they write poems, invent jokes and new fairy tales, and even erect monuments, as in the city of Suzdal, for example.
Image of the Serpent Gorynych.
There are also several versions of what served as the prototype of the Serpent Gorynych. The first, most popular version among the people, refers to the Serpent Gorynych as the hordes of invaders who rolled into Rus' from the southern steppes, be it the Polovtsians, Tatar-Mongols or other nomads. This version was explained beautifully, but unconvincingly. They say that hordes of nomads rolled into Rus' like a many-headed snake, their avalanche wriggled like a snake, and the cunning and vile disposition of the Tatar-Mongol exactly repeated the character of the reptile.
But according to the latest scientific data, the Serpent Gorynych turned out to be not a living creature, but a secret weapon. Let's compare the description of the Serpent Gorynych with technical characteristics Mongol weapons.
Let's start with the main feature of the Serpent Gorynych - its mouth bursting with fire (“flies, flames burst from its nostrils”). This description is perfectly suited for fire projectiles. The multi-headed nature of the Snake can be explained by the fact that the installations that sent projectiles to the enemy would today be called “multiple rocket launchers.” Mongolian Katyushas threw dozens of fireballs, which with howling and hissing rushed towards the Slavic fortifications. The wings of the Serpent Gorynych turned out to be stabilizers of powder rockets. Another proof of the rocket version is the fact that the Serpent Gorynych always purposefully flies in and immediately falls from the sky, and does not circle over the cities of ancient Rus', choosing a victim. Distinctive feature Gorynych's snake is his death at the hands of Russian heroes. The blood of the Serpent, according to fairy tales, is black, and Mother Earth does not want to accept it, to absorb it.
To summarize, we can say with confidence that the negative hero of a huge number of Russian fairy tales and epics was nothing more than the missile troops of the army of the Tatar-Mongol invaders.
The image is terrible attractive girl unknown years, merry, laughter of Baba Yaga.
Since childhood, everyone knows who Baba Yaga is and remembers almost everything about her tricks. In any fairy tale, Baba Yaga performs important role. Eliminate it from the text. And the hero will definitely not be able to do anything. He either won’t get the treasure sword he needs, or he won’t receive exact instructions on where to look and where to go, and in the end, he will certainly end up hungry and dirty, since this harmful old woman will certainly feed him, give him water and soar in the bathhouse, and then he does everything else. Thus, there is nowhere without her.
Baba Yaga is strange name has its own history. "Baba" is the mother, the main woman in ancient cultures. "Yaga" - fire. There was a verb "yagat". “Yagat” meant “to scream, putting all your strength into this scream.” Hunters and women in labor were yagali. It turns out that Baba Yaga was the main mother, a wise woman who knew everything.
Do you remember what she is like? Scary. He lives in a dark forest, flies in a mortar, and is always trying to fry and eat someone! Why then do Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Beautiful often come to Baba Yaga for advice? But because there was such a custom - to turn to your ancestors for any knowledge. And distant ancestors, of course, are in the other world, where entry to the living is prohibited. But Baba Yaga served as an intermediary, a guide to the other world. After all, she herself apparently died a long time ago. This is evidenced by the description of her appearance in fairy tales: shaggy, flowing hair (braids in ancient times were unbraided only by dead women) and bone leg(it is clear that she died so long ago that she even decayed). And her home is a hut on chicken legs - a prototype of the houses that people of the past built. They believed that after a person dies, his soul lives among people for some time. They made a doll for her, put her in a wooden house, and the house was placed on the stump of a felled tree, the roots of which very much resemble a chicken paw - here you have a hut on chicken legs!
After all, there is not a single fairy tale where Baba Yaga fries people, she just wants to do it. Where did this come from in the fairy tale? It turns out that there was such a ritual - baking a sick child. The midwife spoke the bread dough, wrapped the baby in it, put it on a shovel and stuck it in the oven. Then she took it out, unwrapped it, and gave the dough to the dogs. The child often recovered from such warming. So, if we interpret the fairy tale from the point of view of cultural history, then Baba Yaga is not a villain at all, but a folk healer. So Baba Yaga is not as scary as we think.
Conclusion.
By doing this work, I enriched my reading experience. I learned a lot of new Russian folk fairy tales.
I learned to analyze and highlight the main thing. I have collected, as it seems to me, interesting educational material that can be used in lessons of literary reading, history, and the surrounding world.
We are talking about the main character's bride. Whether he is Ivan the Tsarevich or Ivan the Fool, he will certainly find Vasilisa the Wise or Vasilisa the Beautiful. The girl is supposed to be saved first, and then married - everything is honorable. But the girl is not easy. She can hide in the form of a frog, have some kind of witchcraft abilities, be able to speak with animals, the sun, wind and moon... In general, she is clearly a difficult girl. At the same time, it’s also kind of “secret”. Judge for yourself: it is much more difficult to find information about her than about any other fairy-tale character. In encyclopedias (both classic, paper, and new, online ones) you can easily find lengthy articles about Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich, about Koshchei the Immortal and about Baba Yaga, about mermaids, goblin and merman, but there is almost nothing about Vasilisa . On the surface lies only a short article in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, which reads:
"Vasilisa the Wise is a character in Russian folk fairy tales. In most of them, Vasilisa the Wise is the daughter of the sea king, endowed with wisdom and the ability to transform. The same female image appears under the name of Marya the Princess, Marya Morevna, Elena the Beautiful. Maxim Gorky called Vasilisa the Wise one "One of the most perfect images created by folk fantasy. The destitute orphan is different in nature - Vasilisa the Beautiful in Afanasyev’s unique text."
Let's start, perhaps, with Vasilisa the Elder, with the one whom Gorky identified with Marya the Princess, Marya Morevna and Elena the Beautiful. And there was every reason for that. All these characters are very similar, for example, in that nothing is really said about them in fairy tales. Like, a beautiful maiden, the likes of which the world has never seen - and that’s all. Neither detailed description appearance, or any character traits. Just a woman-function, without which a fairy tale would not work: after all, the hero must conquer the princess, and who she is is the tenth matter. Let there be Vasilisa.
The name, by the way, hints at high origin. The name "Vasilisa" can be translated from Greek as "royal". And this royal maiden (sometimes in fairy tales she is called the Tsar Maiden) begins to subject the hero to tests. That is, sometimes it is not she who does this, but some fairy-tale villain like Koshchei the Immortal or the Serpent Gorynych, who kidnapped the princess and is holding her captive (at best) or is going to devour her (at worst).
Sometimes the father of the potential bride plays the role of the villain. In the fairy tale, where Vasilisa appears as the daughter of the water king, the lord sea waters puts obstacles in the way of the hero to destroy him, but loses because the enemy suddenly turns out to be dear to his daughter’s heart, and no amount of witchcraft can defeat him. But here everything is more or less clear: there is some evil force (a dragon, a sorcerer, or the girl’s evil parents), and the hero must fight the enemy. In fact, this is how he becomes a hero. And a princess, princess or princess (it doesn’t matter) is a reward for the hero.
However, it also happens that Ivan Tsarevich or Ivan the Fool or some other central fairy tale character He is forced to undergo trials not because of dragons or sorcerers - he is tormented by the bride herself. Either the hero needs to jump on horseback to the windows of her little room and kiss the beauty on the sugar lips, then he needs to recognize the girl among twelve friends who look exactly like her, then he needs to catch the fugitive - or demonstrate enviable cunning in order to hide from the princess so that she didn’t find him. At worst, the hero is asked to solve riddles. But in one form or another, Vasilisa will test him.
It would seem that what is unusual about the tests? Testing a man is generally a matter of a woman’s character: is he good enough to connect her life with him or give birth to offspring, does he have the strength and intelligence to be a worthy husband and father? From a biological point of view, everything is absolutely correct. However, there is one small detail. If unfortunate Ivan does not complete the task, then death awaits him - and this is repeatedly emphasized in dozens of Russian fairy tales.
One wonders why beautiful princess demonstrates bloodthirstiness, which is more suitable for the Serpent Gorynych? Because in reality she doesn’t want to get married at all. Moreover, she is the enemy of the hero, believes the famous researcher of Russian folklore Vladimir Propp in his book " Historical roots fairy tale":
“The task is set as a test of the groom... But these tasks are also interesting to others. They contain a moment of threat: “If he doesn’t do it, he will have his head cut off for his offense.” This threat reveals another motivation. In the tasks and threats one can see not only the desire to have the best groom for the princess , but also a secret, hidden hope that such a groom will not exist at all.
The words “I guess I agree, just complete three tasks in advance” are full of deceit. The groom is sent to his death... In some cases this hostility is expressed quite clearly. It manifests itself outward when the task has already been completed and when more and more new and more dangerous tasks are asked.”
Why is Vasilisa, aka Marya Morevna, aka Elena the Beautiful, against marriage? Perhaps in fairy tales, where she constantly intrigues the main character, she simply does not need this marriage. She either rules the country herself - and she does not need a husband as a rival in power, or she is the daughter of a king who will be overthrown by her potential husband in order to seize the throne. Quite a logical version.
As the same Propp writes, the plot about the machinations that the future father-in-law perpetrates on the hero together with his daughter or in defiance of her could well have had a real basis. According to Propp, the struggle for the throne between the hero and the old king is a completely historical phenomenon. The tale here reflects the transfer of power from father-in-law to son-in-law through a woman, through a daughter. And this once again explains why fairy tales say so little about the appearance and character of the bride - this is a character-function: either a prize for the hero, or a means of achieving power. Sad story.
Meanwhile, in the Russian tradition there is a fairy tale that tells about Vasilisa’s childhood, adolescence and youth. It was Gorky who mentioned her, saying that she was not like the usual image of a princess whom the hero is trying to win. In this fairy tale, Vasilisa is an orphan girl. It's not a fact that this is the same character. However, this Vasilisa, unlike other fairy-tale namesakes, is an absolutely full-blooded heroine - with a biography, character, and so on.
I'll sketch it out in dotted lines. storyline. A merchant's wife dies, leaving him with a little daughter. The father decides to marry again. The stepmother has her own daughters, and all this new company begins to tyrannize Vasilisa, loading her with backbreaking work. In general, it is very similar to the fairy tale about Cinderella. It seems, but not entirely, because Cinderella was helped by a fairy godmother, and Vasilisa was helped by a creepy witch from the forest.
This is how it turned out. The stepmother and her daughters said that there was no more fire in the house, and they sent Vasilisa into the forest to Baba Yaga, of course, hoping that she would not return. The girl obeyed. Her road is through dark forest was scary - and strange: she met three horsemen, one white, another red, and the third black, and they were all riding towards Yaga.
When Vasilisa reached her abode, she was greeted by a high fence made of stakes planted with human skulls. Yaga's house turned out to be no less creepy: for example, instead of servants, the witch had three pairs of hands that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared to God knows where. But the most terrible creature in this house was Baba Yaga.
The witch, however, received Vasilisa favorably and promised that she would give her fire if Vasilisa completed all her tasks. Completing difficult tasks is an indispensable path of the hero. Unlike the fairy tales mentioned above, in this one it is a woman who goes through it, and therefore her tasks are female, there are simply too many of them: to clean the yard, and sweep the hut, and wash the linen, and cook dinner, and sort the grains, and that’s it. - for one day. Of course, if the tasks were completed poorly, Baba Yaga promised to eat Vasilisa.
Vasilisa washed Yaga's clothes, cleaned her house, prepared food for her, then learned to separate healthy grains from infected ones, and poppy seeds from dirt. Afterwards, Yaga allowed Vasilisa to ask her a few questions. Vasilisa asked about the three mysterious horsemen - white, red and black. The witch replied that it was a clear day, a red sun and a black night, and all of them were her faithful servants. That is, Baba Yaga in this fairy tale is an extremely powerful sorceress.
Afterwards she asked Vasilisa why she didn’t ask further, about dead hands, for example, and Vasilisa replied that if you know a lot, you will soon grow old. Yaga looked at her and, narrowing her eyes, said that the answer was correct: she doesn’t like people who are too curious and eats them. And then she asked how Vasilisa managed to answer her questions without errors and how she managed to do all the work correctly.
Vasilisa replied that her mother’s blessing helped her, and then the witch pushed her over the threshold: “I don’t need blessed ones here.” But in addition she gave the girl fire - she removed a skull from the fence, whose eye sockets were blazing with flame. And when Vasilisa returned home, the skull burned her tormentors.
A creepy tale. And its essence is that Vasilisa the Beautiful, while carrying out the tasks of Baba Yaga, learned a lot from her. For example, while washing Yaga’s clothes, Vasilisa literally saw what the old woman was made of, the famous fairy tale researcher Clarissa Estes writes in her book “Who Runs with the Wolves”:
"In the symbolism of the archetype, clothing corresponds to the persona, the first impression that we make on others. A persona is something like a camouflage that allows us to show others only what we ourselves want, and no more. But... a persona is not only a mask behind which you can hide, but there is a presence that eclipses the usual personality.
In this sense, the persona or mask is a sign of rank, dignity, character and power. This is an external pointer external manifestation skill. By washing Yaga’s clothes, the initiate will see with her own eyes what the person’s seams look like, how the dress is cut.”
And so - in everything. Vasilisa sees how and what Yaga eats, how she makes the world revolve around her, and makes the day, sun and night walk as her servants. And the terrible skull, blazing with fire, which the witch hands to the girl, in this case, is a symbol of the special witchcraft knowledge that she received while being a novice with Yaga.
The sorceress, by the way, might have continued her studies if Vasilisa had not turned out to be a blessed daughter. But it didn’t work out. And Vasilisa, armed with force and secret knowledge, went back to the world. In this case, it is clear where Vasilisa got her magical skills, which are often mentioned in other fairy tales. It is also clear why she can be both good and evil.
She is still a blessed child, but Baba Yaga’s school is also here to stay. Therefore, Vasilisa ceased to be a meek orphan: her enemies died, and she herself married a prince and sat on the throne...
Artist Roman Papsuev created a series of drawings in which he reinterpreted the images of fairy tale heroes Ancient Rus'. In the author's interpretation, such heroes as Ilya Muromets, Vasilisa the Beautiful, Kashchei the Immortal and many others. others may well look like characters from a fantasy world.
Ilya Muromets. I started, of course, with him. By the way, he has a bottle of dead water hanging on his belt to treat his wounds. And with a shield he is quite capable of destroying his enemies. I drew this picture from my head, just based on the types from my childhood, but later, after checking with the sources, I came to the conclusion that I completely fell into the image.
The author of the project in no way distorts the history of the great heritage of our ancestors. He is only trying to make his own vision of famous heroes. “I don’t invent characters, they are all in mythology, I just interpret their descriptions in my own way, try to find common features in these descriptions and at the same time try to maintain a single style so that it looks like the game world.
What makes me most happy is that some people who look at my pictures begin to re-read epic fairy tales, learn a lot of new things for themselves and understand why Vasilisa the Beautiful has a doll in her bag, why Vodyanoy is on a catfish, why Ilya Muromets has a sword in his hands, and not a mace, etc. This return to origins through my modest project pleases me as an author most of all.” - explains Roman.
Dobrynya. What is known about him (in parentheses - how I played it out). A relative of the prince (the armor must be rich), the second most popular hero after Ilya ( smaller in size, but still cool), a snake fighter (a magical shield covered with fiery dragon skin that shoots fire), a seven-tailed whip, with which he whipped his horse so that it would trample the baby snakes, and so on. It’s hard to depict diplomatic skills, education and politeness in a picture, but I put a scroll in a tube on his belt, like he’s reading in his spare time. Right there with him living water, it complements the set of Ilya, who, let me remind you, has dead water on his belt. Well, the sun motif, like Ilya’s, serves one prince.
Popovich. Well, it’s obvious that he should be a witch hunter, right?
A sudden turn slightly to the side, towards Finist.
It was the girls' turn. I'll start with Vasilisa the Beautiful (not to be confused with Vasilisa the Wise, aka the Frog Princess). A battle mage, there’s nothing to even think about, one skull that incinerates enemies (mentioned in a fairy tale), that’s worth it. And of course, the doll is in the bag, everything is as it should be. A small note: it may not be so clearly visible, but her kokoshnik is made of steel, part of a half-helmet.
Vasilisa the Wise (Frog Princess). It turned out to be not so simple with her. There are already three common versions of the fairy tale (in one of them she is generally called Elena the Beautiful), so I decided to try to collect everything that is known about her into one image. So, witch. Conjures and with the help own strength, and with the help of mother-nannies (grandmother-nanny, mother-nanny, etc.). I decided that the nannies would be plump flying fairies in my version. The magic of nanny mothers individually is not that strong, but if they start doing something together, just hold on.
I did not find confirmation in fairy tales that Vasilisa is the daughter of Koshchei the Immortal (although there is such a version, and it is quite logical), so I did not make obvious necromantic paraphernalia. But the Wise One, it seems to me, could also dabble in dark magic, her character is like that... I completely forgot to mention - she has an arrowhead hanging on her chest in the form of a pendant. The same one.
Princess Nesmeyana. First I wanted to make my face open, then I decided to immediately show off the visor mask. Kokoshnik is part of a helmet. Observant viewers will notice the waterskin and horn on her belt. Why? Because due to an eternally bad mood, he constantly drinks alcohol. By the way, when she laughs (and she laughs extremely rarely), it means that she has an attack and she becomes a berserker - a very scary ability.
Marya Morevna. Everything is clear here. The only note is that since the fairy tale indicates that she is a steppe warrior, I slightly added Asian elements.
Varvara is beautiful. Mound Raider. Strictly speaking, this is a movie character; it seems that Varvara the Beauty did not exist in mythology. But, firstly, everyone probably knows Roe’s film, and secondly, her name is too famous, I couldn’t pass it by. I think it's clear who the reference was. A few comments: the hatchets are attached to the sheath on the hips, amulets-amulets dangle from the belts, the kokoshnik, as always, is metal. When there are a lot of enemies, she attacks by spinning like a top and mows down the enemies (haha). The braid itself may well be made of leather, like a whip, i.e. it is not collected hair, but part of a helmet.
Baba Yaga. V. 1.0.
Koschey. Feeds on the souls of victims. I also drew this one, based on stamps from my head, then I carefully studied the sources and came to the conclusion that I would change Koshchei’s head. So later there will be Koschey Mark 2. :)
Nightingale the Robber. Part one. Upper. I'll have to explain some things. In fairy tales, the Nightingale sits on nine oak trees, sits high, looks far away, whistles like a nightingale, screams like an animal. I thought for a long time about how to play it all out (“sitting on nine oak trees” was the biggest problem - a giant, or what? Or are the oak trees small?), in the end I came to the conclusion that the Nightingale would be a monster rider. He will ride on an oak tree. His scream-whistle is a sonic weapon. A whistle is a targeted blow, a scream is a wave with a wide range of action. He will also have a magical staff to control the oak tree. And notice the acorn necklace around his neck. It is not without reason, it is a solution to the problem with nine oaks. Yes, many have strange associations with his mouth, I advise you to go to the mirror and try to make “chicken lips” - you will be surprised. :)
Nightingale the Robber. Part two. Riding on an oak tree. In general, he lives in a tree, this is his storage and fortress. Chests (trophies) and shields are hung on the branches, which move if something threatens the Nightingale. The oak tree also has chains with hooks, with which it pulls the victim towards itself in order to eat it.
The oak tree moves both like a spider and like a centipede, that is, it supports the trunk with large branches and finely moves with its roots. It moves slowly, but if it gets there, screw the hero. Now about the problem of nine oaks. Acorns are magical. When Nightingale throws one acorn on the ground, an oak minion quickly grows from there, ground support, so to speak. I drew one of them on the left. They are faster and more aggressive than the fortress oak. They run up to the hero and hit him. There are eight acorns on the necklace plus the fortress oak, for a total of nine. Oaks themselves are pretty creepy trees, but when nine oaks plus a Nightingale with his sonic weapon are moving towards the hero, the hero should feel uncomfortable.
Yes, and the scale here is a little arbitrary (otherwise it wouldn’t fit), but roughly guide yourself by the skulls on the branch, these are the skulls of adults. That is, the Nightingale is slightly larger ordinary person. Yes, and in the picture he just screams like an animal.
Tugarin Zmey. This is probably the last picture where I use complex frames - they take too much time, the characters are more important, so then the frames will be very conventional.
Lesovik. Owner of the forest. I will separate the forest spirits, this one is the most important. He is, in principle, kind, but stern and fair, if anything happens, he can punish harshly.
Visually, I decided to start from zooanthropomorphic descriptions, with elements of phytoanthropomorphism; for each forest spirit I will choose the main animal and will dance from it
Leshy. I tried to embody in this handsome man the main thing that is known about goblin in the generally accepted (and most importantly - evil) sense. Leshy's character, to put it mildly, is not very pleasant. One eye is normal (left), the right one is usually larger than the left and “dead”, motionless. The beard and hair are gray. They often write about a cone-shaped head, in my interpretation - because of the hair collected in a bun. He wraps his clothes to the left and wears them inside out (it turned out not so easy to show with a pencil that it was the wrong side). The arms and legs are covered with fur. In some versions of the legends it is belted, in others it is necessarily not. On the belt hang trophies and essential things: the skulls of defeated lost and impolite travelers, a horn for drinking, and bast shoes, because my Leshy just likes bast shoes, he collects them. In the legends, the classic Leshy also has some kind of fixation on bast shoes. But considering that he is often described as having hooves, the question is how did he wear them? The logical answer is that he did not wear them on his feet, he simply carried them around with him as souvenirs.
Bolotnik. A vile creature living in the swamps pretends to be a hummock and eats everyone. Throws “swamp lights” from the bracelet to paralyze the victim. Poisonous.
P.S. I would also like to add a decoy, like that of an angler fish. The decoy is long, telescopic, in fact a symbiote, i.e. a separate creature, lures and hypnotizes travelers, leading them straight into the quagmire to the Bolotnik.
Spirits of the forest. Part 1. It was impractical to draw a separate picture for each small spirit of the forest, so I decided to divide them into groups. All these guys are Lesovik’s retinue. I tried to do it according to the descriptions that I could find, but it was not without arbitrariness.
Vodyanik, for example, is like one of the names of Vodyanoy. But I decided that small ponds, streams and small rivers should also have their own spirits, so I singled out the name “Vodyanik” in separate group small spirits. All forest spirits are quite neutral, but if you anger them, they can attack.
The most aggressive of this group is Mokhovik; according to legend, he could eat children, if anything.
Berryberry, for all its outward harmlessness, can also cause damage (with poisoned berries).
Derevyanik - combined Derevyanik and Kornevik in one character - stupid, awkward, but quite strong, he can entangle himself with roots and drink the juices from the victim with them.
Spirits of the forest. Part 2. Mushroom picker, Leaf picker, Herbal picker, Kustin. I call this picture “Russula is late for the meeting.” Concluding the topic of forest spirits and Lesovik’s retinue, let’s quickly go over the characters and abilities.
Mushroom picker - not very good kind character(in mythology mushrooms are generally not very popular, there is a lot about genitals and excrement), not very strong, but very tenacious and touchy (believes that people slander him). Can infect offenders with rapidly growing fungi. His dream is to conquer the whole world.
The herbalist is a hippie. In case of danger, he can fool the offender and even kill him if he gets very angry.
Leaflet (combined with Steblevik, so as not to produce entities) - the most harmless of all, usually acts as a support group for Derevyanik and Kustin, giving them additional strength and protection.
Kustin (Kushchanik) - younger brother Derevyanika, they are very similar in character and usually work in pairs. Kustin can remotely entwine the offender with branches, paralyzing him.
Water on catfish. For this picture, I will simply list the main characteristics with explanations of why this is so, and we’ll talk about the details of Vodyanoy’s character in the next picture. I’ll say right away: I tried to incorporate into the image everything that the Internet knows about Vodyanoy, while at the same time proposing some of my own solutions. Please immediately forget Vodyanoy’s song from “ flying ship" So, let's go.
It is known that Vodyanoy is a fat old man with a big belly (done), he is often seen in a red shirt (for me it’s chain mail made of scarlet gold), he has a thick beard and a green mustache (here I cheated and made him a CATFISH mustache, part of the beard - also catfish probes, hence the greenish color). Among the northern peoples of Russia, Vodyanoy is often represented with a club. In general, Vodyanoy is a serious evil spirit, and his character is very bad (quote: “The embodiment of the element of water as a negative and dangerous principle”). And the main quote for the picture, from which, in fact, the image itself was born. “He is credited with catfish as his favorite fish, which he rides on and which brings him drowned people. For this reason, the catfish is popularly called the “devil’s horse.” This is where the idea of making a mount boss came to mind. Since Vodyanoy is sometimes seen on land, I made the catfish not quite a catfish. In fact, there is a whole mix of animals (they all live quite well in Russia, by the way), whoever identifies them all has a pie.
I paid special attention to the harness, harness and saddle; I had to use my imagination, of course, but fighting pack catfish do not exist in nature, so I apologize if anything happens. This is not the last picture of Vodyanoy: here he is too small and the details are not visible, so I will make him separately, as I did Nightingale.
Vodyanoy and Vodyanitsa. Sorry for the many letters, but it's necessary. I present to your attention a family photo, because of which I spent a sleepless night at work, I was so overwhelmed. Let's start with Vodyanitsa, because new character. There is very little information about Vodyanitsa (where to put the emphasis, I prefer to put on and); it is known that she is NOT a mermaid, she is dressed in a torn sundress, she has big breasts, she’s a prankster, but on the whole she doesn’t offend anyone much, that is, she’s quite positive character. I drew her in a magpie (headdress married women) to emphasize marital status. And this character also has a key feature that really stuck with me. “Vodyanitsa is a drowned woman from the baptized, and therefore does not belong to the undead.” Do you understand, right? The baptized drowned woman is the wife of Vodyanoy, who is actually an evil spirit (undead). There is a huge scope for imagination, of course. And this is what I imagined.
As I wrote earlier, Vodyanoy has an extremely bad character. He seems to be neutral, but with a greater bias towards evil. He constantly needs to be cajoled, otherwise he will play dirty tricks, and drown, and wave his club. However, he can provide a catch and save, if anything - and in my version, all his good deeds are directly related to Vodyanitsa. Since his wife is essentially kind, but young, mischievous and foolish, she plays with the old man as she wants. And often makes hubby commit good deeds, although this contradicts his unclean nature. And vice versa, when they quarrel, Vodyanoy goes on a hike and rages even more, letting off steam. Vodyanitsa herself is not particularly visible to people, and in my interpretation she is not even a separate character, but simply an addition to the image of Vodyany. She buffs (increases the strength) of the Vodyanoy when she yells at him.
Sister Alyonushka, brother Ivanushka Another one sweet couple. I understand that I shock many people with this picture, but before you judge, please re-read the fairy tale. However, I will briefly explain everything to you. There are several key points in the fairy tale (in its many iterations) that are the same for all versions. So, the facts:
1. Ivanushka became a kid.
2. Alyonushka was drowned.
3. In almost all versions there is a “fierce snake” that sucked out Alyonushka’s heart (and there is also a “heavy stone” on her neck, “a white fish ate her eyes out”, “yellow sands lay on her chest”, “silk grass on her hands”, dust, decay, hopelessness, that’s all).
4. There is a witch-witch who organized this whole drowning mess.
5. They took Alyonushka out of the river, “dipped her, rinsed her in clean water, they wrapped it in white linen, and it became even better than it was.”
6. In all versions of the fairy tale, where Ivanushka turned into a little goat, he remained one. Well, you understand what I mean, right?
I was not lazy and nevertheless compiled my “dictionary of runes”. They are, of course, fictitious, based on the Scandinavian and those scribbles that he dug up in the pre-Christian writing of the Slavs. Moreover, I came up with the meanings of the runes myself, without really looking at the real ones. My version, my runes, I move whatever I want. There will be an additional game for the audience - reading what the characters have written on their clothes.
Baba Yaga- a character in Slavic mythology and folklore (especially fairy tales) Slavic peoples. An old sorceress endowed with magical powers. Witch, werewolf. In its properties it is closest to a witch. More often - negative character. In addition to Russians, it is found in Slovak and Czech fairy tales.
- Koschei the Deathless
Koschey (Kashchei) the Immortal- antagonist in Russian fairy tales and folklore. A king, a sorcerer, sometimes a rider on a magical talking horse. Often acts as the protagonist's bride kidnapper. In Slavic paganism - guardian underground kingdom(analogous to Hades). Depicted as a thin, tall old man or a living skeleton, he is often presented as stingy and stingy (“there Tsar Kashchei is wasting away over gold” by A. S. Pushkin). In addition to the name of the hero of fairy tales, the word has two more outdated meanings: “thin (or stingy) person” and, in ancient Russian texts, “captive”.
- Ivan the Fool
Ivan the Fool, or Ivan the Fool- one of the main prototypical characters of Russian fairy tales. According to some versions, a name with the epithet fool is a talismanic name that prevents the evil eye. Embodies a special fairy-tale strategy, based not on the standard postulates of practical reason, but based on the search for one’s own solutions, often contradictory common sense, but ultimately bringing success.
According to other versions, “fool” is his property status. Since he is the third son, he is not entitled to a share in the inheritance (he remains a fool).
As a rule, it social status low - a peasant's son or the son of an old man and an old woman. In the family he was often the third, youngest son. Not married.
With the help of magical means and especially thanks to his “not smart”, Ivan the Fool successfully passes all the tests and achieves highest values: he defeats the enemy, marries the king’s daughter, receives both wealth and fame... Perhaps Ivan the Fool achieves all this due to the fact that he embodies the first (according to Georges Dumézil) magico-legal function, associated not so much with the case, but with in a word, with priestly duties.
Ivan the Fool is the only one of the brothers who speaks in the fairy tale. Ivan the Fool makes and guesses riddles, that is, he does what a priest does in many traditions during a ritual dedicated to the main annual holiday.
Ivan the Fool - poet and musician; fairy tales emphasize his singing, his ability to play a wonderful pipe or samogud harp, making the herd dance. Ivan the Fool is the bearer of a special speech, in which, in addition to riddles, jokes, and jokes, there are fragments where either the phonetic or semantic principles of ordinary speech are violated, or even something resembling abstruseness; compare “nonsense”, “absurdities”, linguistic paradoxes based, in particular, on the play of homonymy and synonymy, polysemy and multi-referentiality of words, etc. (for example, Ivan the Fool describes killing a snake with a spear as a meeting with evil, which he is evil and hit, “evil died from evil”). Ivan the Fool is connected in the plot with a certain critical situation, culminating in a celebration (victory over the enemy and marriage), in which he is the main participant.
Other European nations have similar tales. For example, the German fairy tale “Hans the Fool” (“Hans Dumm” Brüder Grimm. Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Nr.54), the Italian “Pietro the Fool” (“Pietro pazzo” Straparola G.F. Le piacevoli notti. 1927. Notte terza, favola I.) , French fairy tale “The Marriage of Jean the Idiot” (“Le mariage de Jean le Idiot” Sébillot, Paul. Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne. Paris, 1880. P.140-145.)
- Ivan Tsarevich
Ivan Tsarevich- one of the main characters of Russian folklore. He appeared like a fairy-tale character at the end XVIII-early XIX century.
Ivan Tsarevich appears in fairy tales in two different images:
- a positive character who fights evil, helping the offended or weak. Very often at the beginning of a fairy tale, Ivan Tsarevich is poor, lost by his parents, persecuted by enemies, and does not know about his royal origins. In such tales, as a reward for heroic behavior and good deeds, Ivan Tsarevich receives back his kingdom, throne, or finds his royal parents. But even if he is initially a prince, then at the end of the fairy tale he usually receives a kind of prize in the form of someone else’s half-kingdom, a royal or royal daughter, a magic or expensive horse, precious or magic items or even extra intelligence or magical skills.
- a negative character who is contrasted with other princes, but more often with characters of simple origin, for example, Ivan the Fisherman's Son. In this case, Ivan Tsarevich is angry, treacherous and different ways trying to destroy the good heroes and take away their well-deserved reward. In the end he is disgraced and punished, but almost never killed.
As a fairy-tale character, Ivan Tsarevich is most often associated with only a few specific plots. Each such plot hardly changes from fairy tale to fairy tale, only the descriptions change characters and their names.
Typically, Ivan Tsarevich (like Ivan the Fool) is the youngest of the Tsar's three sons.
- Emelya
Emelya (“Karmushkin”)- a character from the Russian folk tale “At the Pike’s Command.”
Emelya is not allowed to take part in serious matters of the family. He is extremely lazy: his daughters-in-law have to beg him for a long time to do any work, even simple ones. The only thing that can motivate him to action is the promise of gifts, which he is greedy for. This is a hidden, at first glance, unnoticeable irony; the name Emelyan, according to one version, translated from Latin means “hardworking.” However, this seemingly unattractive character has qualities that make him a real hero: he is dexterous and lucky, he managed to catch a magic pike in an ice hole with his bare hands and receive from it magical power(in the terminology of V. Ya. Propp, the pike becomes the “magic assistant” of the village fool).
At first, Emelya uses the acquired gift for everyday purposes - she makes buckets go for water, an ax - to chop wood, a club - to beat her enemies. In addition, he travels on a self-propelled sleigh without a horse, and subsequently controls the stove (since he does not want to leave his favorite couch). Riding on the stove is one of the brightest episodes of the fairy tale. It is interesting that, while driving her vehicles, Emelya mercilessly crushes people (“Why did they climb under the sleigh?”). Among folklorists, there is an opinion that this detail indicates the royal nature of Emelya, who for the time being remains a “dark horse”, and subsequently reveals his heroic, extraordinary essence.
Indeed, it is rumors about the lordly way of driving and complaints from victims that force the king to pay attention to the most insignificant of his subjects. Emelya is lured to the palace with the help of gifts, and the king makes a claim to him, which, in essence, is limited to a verbal reprimand. Emelya at this time manages to bewitch the tsar’s daughter, so that when he goes home, she begins to feel sad and demands the return of the peasant son. The Tsar agrees, but when Emelya comes a second time, he immurs him and Princess Marya in a barrel and throws them into the sea. However, a magical gift helps the hero out here too: the spell “At the behest of a pike, at my will” throws the barrel ashore, builds a palace and turns Emelya into a handsome man (at the girl’s request). The king, seeing a new castle on his land, gets angry and comes to look at the insolent man. He does not recognize the changed Emelya, and only during the meal the hero reveals his face and reminds the king of his villainous act. The Tsar is frightened and recognizes Emelya’s strength and that he is worthy to become his son-in-law. Like many Russian fairy tales, the story ends with a wedding.
- Vasilisa the Beautiful
The king wanted to marry his three sons. They went into an open field, pulled their bows and shot an arrow: where whose arrow falls, there his bride will be. The arrow of the youngest son of Ivan Tsarevich fell into a swamp, and he married the Frog Princess. At night she took off her frog skin and became Vasilisa the Beautiful, a beauty and a needlewoman. Only three days remained for Ivan Tsarevich to be patient, and she would become his forever. But he was in a hurry, burned the skin of the frog, and Vasilisa the Beautiful, turning into a bird, flies away to distant lands, to the thirtieth kingdom - to the country of Kashcheev. Ivan Tsarevich goes after her, and along the way he finds good helpers - forest animals, Baba Yaga. Having defeated Koshchei and destroyed his kingdom, Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Beautiful return home.
- Princess Frog
"Princess Frog"- Russian folk fairy tale. Fairy tales with a similar plot are also known in some European countries- for example, in Italy and Greece. The character of this tale is a beautiful girl, usually possessing knowledge of witchcraft (Vasilisa the Wise) and forced to live for some time in the guise of a frog.
By typical plot fairy tales, Ivan Tsarevich is forced to marry a frog, as he finds her as a result of a ritual (the princes shot from bows at random, where the arrow would hit - and look for the bride there). The frog, unlike the wives of Ivan Tsarevich’s brothers, copes well with all the tasks of the king, his father-in-law, either with the help of witchcraft (in one version of the fairy tale), or with the help of “nurses” (in another). When the Tsar invites Ivan and his wife to a feast, she arrives in the guise of a beautiful girl. Ivan Tsarevich secretly burns his wife's frog skin, forcing her to leave him. Ivan goes in search, finds her at Koshchei the Immortal and frees his wife.
- Lisa Patrikeevna
Lisa Patrikeevna(Fox-sister, godmother-fox) is one of the main characters of Russian fairy tales.
Fairy tales about the cunning fox and the stupid wolf are common, in which the fox deceives the wolf for her own benefit. There are also fairy tales where the fox deceives other animals (for example, a hare) or people. In most cases, the Fox (or Fox) is a negative character, personifying cunning, deceit, deceit, cunning, and selfishness. In the literary fairy tale, the image of the fox became softer compared to the folklore prototype. For example, in folklore tales, a fox may hire out to dress up the body of a deceased person and then eat it.
Fairy tales on the theme of the struggle between the cunning Fox and the evil Wolf have been found since ancient times in the folklore of most European peoples.
- Teddy Bear Clubfoot
- Kolobok
Kolobok- a character from the Russian folk tale of the same name, depicted as a small spherical wheat bread, which escaped from the grandparents who baked it, from various animals (a hare, a wolf and a bear), but was eaten by a fox.
It has analogues in the fairy tales of many other peoples: the American gingerbread man, the English Johnny Donut, there are similar Slavic, Scandinavian and German fairy tales, the plot is also found in Uzbek, Tatar fairy tales and others.
- Dragon
Dragon- a multi-headed fire-breathing dragon, a representative of the evil principle in Russian folk tales and epics. In Slavic mythology it is found as zmok (Slovak. zmok, Czech. zmok) or smok (Polish. smok, Belarusian tsmok), serpent (V. Luzh. zmij, Ukrainian zmiy), zmai (Slovenian zmaj, S.- Croatian serpent), serpent (blr. and blg. serpent).
The many-headed nature of a snake is its indispensable feature. The number of heads is usually a multiple of three, most often there are 3, 6, 9 and 12, but there are also 5 and 7. Most often, the snake appears three-headed. Other features of the serpent are mentioned less frequently or not at all. In most cases, the kite has the ability to fly, but, as a rule, nothing is said about its wings. Thus, in the entire Afanasyev collection of Russian folk tales, “fiery wings” are reported only once (the fairy tale “Frolka-seat”). The body of a snake is not described in fairy tales, however, in popular prints depicting a snake, the favorite details are a long arrow tail and clawed paws. One more important feature the snake is its fiery nature, but how exactly the fire erupts is not described in fairy tales. The snake carries fire within itself and spews it out when attacked. In addition to the fire element, the snake is also associated with the water element, and these two elements do not exclude each other. In some fairy tales, he lives in the water, sleeping on a stone in the sea. At the same time, the serpent is also the Serpent Gorynych and lives in the mountains (it is also possible that the patronymic came from the Slavic name Gorynya). However, such a location does not prevent him from being a sea monster. In some fairy tales, he lives in the mountains, but when the hero approaches him, he comes out of the water. According to Dahl, “Gorynya is a fabulous hero and giant who rocks mountains. Gorynich is a fabulous patronymic given to heroes, sometimes to snakes, or to inhabitants of mountains, dens, and caves.” The three-headed serpent Azhi-Dahak from Iranian mythology and the Serbian Serpent Fire Wolf (Smaj Ogeni Vuk) are similar to the Serpent Gorynych.
- Cat Baiyun
cat Baiyun- a character in Russian fairy tales, a huge cannibal cat with a magical voice. He speaks and lulls approaching travelers to sleep with his tales and those of them who are not strong enough to resist his magic and who are not prepared for battle with him, the Bayun cat mercilessly kills. But whoever can get a cat will find salvation from all illnesses and ailments - Bayun’s fairy tales are healing. The word bayun itself means “talker, storyteller, talker”, from the verb bayat - “tell, talk” (cf. also the verbs lull, lull in the meaning “to put to sleep”). Fairy tales say that Bayun sits on a high, usually iron, pole. The cat lives far away in the thirtieth kingdom or in a lifeless dead forest, where there are no birds or animals. In one of the fairy tales about Vasilisa the Beautiful, the Cat Bayun lived with Baba Yaga.
Exists a large number of fairy tales, where the main thing acting character give the task to catch the cat; As a rule, such tasks were given with the goal of ruining a good fellow. A meeting with this fabulous monster threatens inevitable death. To capture magic cat, Ivan Tsarevich puts on an iron cap and iron gloves. Having extorted and caught the animal, Ivan Tsarevich takes it to the palace to his father. There, the defeated cat begins to serve the king - telling fairy tales and healing the king with soothing words.
- Firebird
Firebird - fairy bird, a character in Russian fairy tales, is usually the goal of the search for a fairy tale hero. The feathers of the firebird have the ability to shine and their brilliance amazes human vision. The Firebird is a fiery bird, its feathers shine with silver and gold (Ognivak’s feathers are reddish), its wings are like tongues of flame, and its eyes glow like crystal. It reaches the size of a peacock.
The Firebird lives in garden of paradise Iria, in a golden cage. At night it flies out of it and illuminates the garden with itself as brightly as thousands of lit lights.
Catching the firebird is fraught with great difficulties and is one of the main tasks that the king (father) sets to his sons in the fairy tale. The firebird can only be obtained youngest son. Mythologists (Afanasyev) explained the firebird as the personification of fire, light, sun. The firebird feeds on golden apples, which give youth, beauty and immortality; When she sings, pearls fall from her beak.
The singing of the firebird heals the sick and restores sight to the blind. Leaving aside arbitrary mythological explanations, we can compare the firebird with medieval ones, very popular both in Russian and in Western European literature stories about the Phoenix bird rising from the ashes. The prototype of the Firebird is the peacock. Rejuvenating apples, in turn, can be compared with the fruits of the pomegranate tree, a favorite delicacy of phoenixes.
Every year, in the fall, the Firebird dies and is reborn in the spring. Sometimes you can find a fallen feather from the Firebird's tail; brought into a dark room, it will replace the richest lighting. Over time, such a feather turns into gold.
To catch, Firebirds use a golden cage with apples inside as a trap. You cannot catch it with your bare hands, as you can get burned on its plumage.
- Gray wolf
- Sivka-Burka
- Dereza goat
- Elena the beautiful
- Vasilisa the Wise
- Marya Iskusnitsa
- Miracle Yudo
