Heroes of Russian folk tales about animals and their role in the formation of national character. Fox in Russian folk tales Animal heroes in Russian folk tales

The fairy tale allows you to get closer to understanding the traditions and culture of the Russian people. Being a genre of expression of the national spirit of a people, a fairy tale is associated with the worldview of this people. It is known that the Russian fairy tale plays an educational role, but it educates not only children, but also adults. Particularly interesting in this sense are Russian fairy tales for children with pictures about animals.

In this article we will consider the fairy tale about the Fox as the subject of research. This image has many meanings, because the Fox can flatter, deceive, and achieve her goal. We analyzed 13 fairy tales: “Kolobok”, “The Fox and the Crane”, “The Fox and the Goat”, “The Fox, the Hare and the Rooster”, “The Cat and the Fox”, “The Fox and the Black Grouse”, etc.

Analysis of fairy tales about animals convinced that the image of the Fox in Russian folk tales is more interesting than other animals. The fox is always different, and you can understand that she is interested in the person who is watching her. A person sees in her and in her behavior many interesting things that are similar to the person himself. Therefore, the character of the Fox in Russian fairy tales about animals has such typical features that we find in their descriptions, such as flattery, cunning and a tendency to steal. Let's consider each character trait of the Fox separately.

We find the property of flattery in the character of the Fox in the following fairy tales: “Kolobok”, “Cockerel - the Golden Comb”, etc. We noticed that in the fairy tale “Kolobok” the Fox is different from other animals. So, for example, when the Fox met Kolobok, she did not immediately say to Kolobok: “Will I eat you?”, but at first began to admire him: “Hello, Kolobok! How cute you are!” But after Kolobok sang a song at the Fox’s request, she generously gave him her compliment: “What a wonderful song! Thank you, Kolobok! Such a nice song, I could just listen and listen.” The Fox here flatters a lot so that Kolobok believes her, so that he can sit on his tongue and eat him. The flattering Fox manages to carry out her plan. The same thing is observed in the fairy tale “The Golden Comb Cockerel”. To attract the attention of the Cockerel, the Fox sang to him: “Cockerel, Cockerel, golden comb, olive head, silk beard.” And thus she achieved her goal.

We find the cunning quality of the Fox’s character in the following fairy tales: “The Fox and the Goat”, “Sister Fox and the Wolf”. For example, in the fairy tale “The Fox and the Goat,” the Fox fell into a well. She began to grieve that she couldn’t get out, that she was in trouble, but when the goat found out that the Fox had fallen into the well, the Fox immediately got the idea to get out of it. The goat asked the Fox what she was doing there, the Fox disguised herself and slyly answered the goat: “I’m resting, my dear, it’s hot up there, so I climbed up here. It’s already so cool here and it’s good! Cold water – as much as you want!” Thus, the Fox attracted the goat into the well and saved herself. In the fairy tale "Little Fox and the Wolf", the wolf was injured because of the Fox. When the wolf wanted to take revenge on the Fox, the Fox said: “At least you are bleeding, but I have a brain, I’m dragging myself.” The fox, with her cunning, avoided revenge and gained sympathy from the wolf. We find the property of theft in the character of the Fox in the following fairy tales: “The Bear and the Fox”, “The Fox and the Hare”, etc. In the fairy tale “The Bear and the Fox”, the Fox, knowing that the bear had a tub of honey in the attic of the hut, asked to spend the night from the bear, deceiving him that the corners of his hut had caved in. In the evening she thumped her tail three times and climbed into the attic to eat honey. In the end, she even accused the bear of eating the honey. In the fairy tale “The Fox and the Hare,” the Fox’s hut melted, she asked the hare to spend the night, and kicked him out of the hut. When other animals came to drive her out, she even frightened them: “As soon as I jump out, as soon as I jump out, pieces will go down the back streets!” The fox often shamelessly steals things she needs from others. In these examples we see that the Fox can always save himself and find benefit from his cunning. In Russian fairy tales, the Fox is decorated with human character traits, because it is the people who are the author of the image of the Fox in fairy tales about animals. The Russian people create fairy tales for the purpose of raising children. In fairy tales about animals, the abstract concept of the national character traits of a people is concretized
through images of animals. In fairy tales, people pass on information valuable to the entire society from generation to generation. Every fairy tale and every image of an animal has an educational meaning. This is the image of the Fox. And although the Fox often achieves her goal by cunning, she is sometimes also punished due to cunning. For example, the fairy tale “The Fox and the Blackbird”. In Russian fairy tales, the image of the Fox gives children lessons: on the one hand, that in life sometimes cunning is needed, and on the other hand, that the cunning must be feared.

The fox in the Russian fairy tales that we analyzed belongs to a positive image, it is often decorated with dexterous, cunning behavior and wit. The Russian people value the typical character of the Fox - cunning, and this is what is said in Russian proverbs: Cunning is the second mind, Simplicity is worse than theft, etc. In addition, Russian proverbs say that one must be wary of flattery: Do not use a harsh word be angry, don’t give in to affection; A flatterer under words is a snake under flowers, etc.

Folk tales still arouse interest among both adults and children. The folk worldview, folk tradition, mind and character of the people are also conveyed through fairy tales. A fairy tale is the fruit of the people's mind and thinking, and a fairy tale, indeed, has an educational value, it both consoles and teaches.

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Design and research work.

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Municipal educational institution Kamenskaya secondary school No. 1

Work completed:

Kushakova Sayohatbonu

4th grade

Supervisor:

Pushkina Ekaterina Vladimirovna

Kamenka 2012

Subject. Fox. Habits of a fox. The image of a fox in Russian folk tales.

Target. Analyze the image of a fox in Russian folk tales and draw a conclusion about its essence.

Tasks .

Learn from additional literature about the fox;
study the habits of a fox in different sources;
conduct a survey on the topic of work among students;
read Russian folk tales in which a fox acts;
analyze the image of the fox and draw conclusions.

Object of study. Fox.

Subject of study.Russian folk tales. Additional literature and various sources about the fox.

Hypothesis . Let's assume that the fox is the most intelligent and cunning character in Russian folk tales.

Research methods. Reflections, reading books, searching for information about the fox in different sources, surveying, analyzing the results.

Work plan

Introduction.
Main part:

1. Fox Habits of a fox.

2. The image of a fox in Russian folk tales.

3. Questionnaire and analysis of responses.

4. Reading books and studying the image of a fox in Russian folk tales. Conclusion.

Conclusion.

Introduction

I love animals very much, so I read a lot of literature: fiction, encyclopedias about animals and fairy tales about animals. Lately I have become very interested in such an animal as the fox. I read all the material in home books about the fox, in the library I read encyclopedic articles dedicated to this animal, etc. I found and read a lot of material about the fox on the Internet. Having studied the material about the fox, I suddenly became interested in why the Russian people began to write fairy tales about the fox, what kind of fox is in fairy tales, and whether they always “come out of the water unscathed.” I decided to answer the questions that interested me. The previously studied material was also very useful to me.

Main part

Fox. Habits of a fox.

Fox - one of the most beautiful predators. It belongs to the canine family, although it is somewhat similar to cats. The color of the skin is red, the tail is long and fluffy, the muzzle is long and narrow, and the eyes are smart and cunning. The fox is the size of a small dog. The color of the red cheater varies from fiery red to gray.

The fox lives in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. The fox is a very dexterous and playful animal. She runs so fast that it is very difficult for dogs to catch up with her. In addition, this is a very cunning animal: it can resort to various tricks, confusing its own tracks or getting food for itself.

The fox is a great hunter. In addition to observation and intelligence, she has excellent memory, a good sense of smell and remarkably acute hearing.

Being a predator, the fox eats a wide variety of animals. She happily eats mice, hares, rabbits, amphibians, and reptiles, digs earthworms out of the ground after rain, and catches fish and crayfish in the river. But the redhead especially loves to feast on birds. That's why he looks into chicken coops. The fox successfully supplements its meat diet with berries, apples, and vegetables.

Despite the fact that the fox will not miss an opportunity to feast on a gaping hare, catch a grouse or destroy a bird's nest, in the forest it brings much more benefit than harm. The main food of foxes remains voles, mice, gophers and other small rodents that cause harm to agriculture. And growing fox cubs in large numbers destroy cockchafers - known pests in forest areas.

Foxes usually live alone and unite only during the rutting season. Males help females raise young offspring.

Little fox cubs are usually born at the end of April, beginning of May. The young generation grows up quickly; by the 20th day of life they already begin to crawl out of the hole and feed not on mother’s milk, but on live food. Parents bring live mice, birds and small animals into the hole, which the fox cubs happily feast on. Kids immediately begin to learn the basics of hunting. At first, the fox cubs hunt for May beetles and grasshoppers, but gradually they become accustomed to larger prey: voles, lizards, and frogs.

Fox cubs grow quickly, and already in August they are difficult to distinguish from an adult animal from a distance. In November, young foxes begin an independent life and scatter in all directions.

Foxes don't always live in holes. They use these dwellings only when raising offspring, and spend the rest of their time in the open. The fox has practically no sense of home. They settle wherever they like, and even then not for long. The fox willingly digs holes near human dwellings; sometimes foxes even wander into cities. A fox often does not want to dig a hole on its own and uses other people’s homes; for example, a fox greatly respects convenient holes dug by a badger.

A seasoned fox acquires burrows not only to raise offspring in them or to shelter from prolonged bad weather. Burrows often serve as refuge for them in case of danger.

An old fox, as usual, has not one hole, but several at once. Fox hatching holes are mainly located on the slopes of a ravine, not far from a stream, in a forest thicket, i.e. where people don't go. It happens that a fox returns from year to year to a hole once dug. Then such “apartments” are constantly expanded, renovated, acquiring several “rooms”, which are located on 2–3 floors. Hunters are well acquainted with such holes and call them “centuries-old”.

Typically, a fox's hatching hole is equipped with several exits - holes, which allow it to quietly leave its shelter in case of danger. The main hole, which the fox often uses to exit and enter, is visible from afar. Usually this is a clean area, sprinkled with sand, which appeared here as a result of many years of cleaning the hole. Here oftenyou can see fox cubs playing.

The fox is on the move almost all the time, preferring to hunt at dawn and dusk; at night and during the hottest hours of the day, it usually rests in open dens, surveying the expanses around it. Honing the filigree technique of hunting skills, the restless animal devotes itself to mouseing with all the passion, resembling a playful kitten from the outside. It seems that she likes the process of hunting itself, she is constantly tracking someone, sniffing out, looking out. Walking around its grounds day after day, this animal never misses the opportunity to catch someone, even without being hungry: the result of its labor can be hidden in one of the many storerooms “for a rainy day,” which sooner or later comes. A fox never eats from its belly, as a wolf or a bear does; it always remains light, agile and swift, ready for new hunting exploits.

This cunning beast almost never walks straight, she constantly changes direction, turns, returns, circles and meanders, she is curious, she cares about everything. She also avoids the chase, inventing some tricks or new tricks on the go. The fox is very hardy, it can lead dogs all day long, if the terrain is uneven, it will prefer to walk through ravines, going down to the very bottom or walking half the height, confusing tracks and walking long distances.

The fox shows ingenuity and resourcefulness in any situation. For example, when she has fleas, she finds a woolen rag, approaches a pond and very slowly, starting from the tail, plunges into the water. Everyone knows that fleas do not like water and therefore run up to the head. There is a woolen rag in the fox's mouth. The fox plunges headlong into the water, and the fleas remain on the rag. This is how the cunning fox gets rid of fleas.

The image of a fox in Russian folk tales.

I thought that the fox in Russian folk tales was a cunning cheat and a deceiver. All the animals in the forest suffer from her tricks: the hare, the bear, the wolf. The fox lives in the house that he took from the hare. The fox in fairy tales loves to dress up. The fox is a big gourmet. That's the little I knew about the fairy fox.

Questioning and analysis of responses.

First, I decided to conduct a survey among primary school students at our school, because... I wondered what they knew about the fox, the heroine of Russian folk tales. They were asked to answer the following questions:

What kind of fox is in Russian folk tales?
Where does the fox live?
What is a fox called in fairy tales?
Who does the fox deceive in fairy tales?

35 students from our school took part in the survey. I wrote down their answers in the table.

What kind of fox is in Russian folk tales?
Tricky - 12 lessons.		Smart – 7 lessons.
Where does the fox live?
In the hole - 5 units.		There are 4 classrooms in the house.
What is a fox called in fairy tales?
Kuma, gossip – 6 lessons.		Little fox-sister – 8 lessons.	Fox - 9th grade
What does the fairy tale fox wear?
Sundress and kokoshnik – 4 lessons.	Dress – 3 pieces		Nothing - 9 school.
In fairy tales, who does the fox deceive?
Wolf – 15 lessons.	Man - 9 classes.		Heron – 4 lessons.

Reading books and studying the image of a fox in Russian folk tales. Conclusion.

Fairy tale title	What kind of fox is in a fairy tale?	Fox's home	Who did she deceive?	Who did she suffer from?
Wolf and fox	Deceiver		Wolf, man
Fox midwife	Loves sweets, liar	House	Wolf
How the fox sewed a fur coat for the wolf	Seamstress, tradeswoman		Wolf
Fox, hare and rooster	Kicked out the hare	Ice hut	Dogs, bear, bull	Rooster with a scythe
Fox and blackbird	Cunning, sings songs		Hare, wolf	Outwit the blackbird. The dogs tore the fox apart.
Drozd Eremeevich	Cunning, eats little blackbirds.		Drozd Eremeich	Soroka Filippovna
Fox and black grouse	Tries to deceive	House
Fox and crane	Cooks semolina porridge	House	Crane	Crane
Fox the Confessor	Thief			Rooster
Fox and jug	Chicken steals			Man The jug drowned the fox
Fox and Kotofey Ivanovich	Hunts	House	Scared and outwitted the wolf and the bear,	The cat deceived the fox.
A man, a bear and a fox.	Asks a man for a treat	Nora		Tail deceived, dogs
Kolobok			Ate a bun
Fox with a rolling pin	Finds a rolling pin, demands a replacement (ransom)		Three masters	Dog
Cat, fox and rooster	Sings songs and steals the rooster	House		Cat

After studying 15 fairy tales about the fox, I came to the following conclusion: Fox in fairy tales acts as the main character. This is a stable image in which cunning, a tendency to deception and tricks dominate. The fox will do anything to get what she wants - she will pretend to be weak and helpless, and use all her charm and eloquence. In Russian fairy tales, the fox is contrasted with a simpleton character. It could be a wolf, which the fox successfully fools, a rooster (“Cat, rooster and fox"), or a weak hare, which she drives out of her hut ("Fox and Hare» ). The fox is often punished for his misdeeds, especially when he attacks weak, helpless heroes. For example, the Fox in the fairy tale “The Fox with a Rolling Pin”, “The Man, the Bear and the Fox”. “The Fox and the Blackbird” escapes and hides in a hole, and then the dog pulls it out of the hole by the tail and tears it apart. In some fairy tales, the fox herself is deceived (“The Fox and the Crane,” “The Fox the Confessor”), and in one fairy tale she dies from her own stupidity, putting a jug on her head and drowning in the river (“The Fox and the Jug”).

comparison table

Fox in life	Fox in fairy tales
The fox is a very beautiful animal, has a bright red color, with a white tip of the tail.	In the fairy tale “Teremok” it seems: I am a fox, beautiful in conversation...
The fox is a very cunning animal: it can resort to various tricks, confusing its own tracks or getting food for itself.	In the fairy tale “The Fox and Kotofey Ivanovich,” having deceived the wolf and the bear, he takes their prey
The fox is an omnivorous animal: it eats hare, birds, and frogs, and it has a big sweet tooth (it eats berries and fruits)	The fairytale fox eats fish (“The Wolf and the Fox”), meat (“The Fox and Kotofey Ivanovich”), and honey (“The Fox Midwife”), in the fairy tale “Drozd Eremeevich” he eats little blackbirds
A fox often does not want to dig a hole on its own and uses other people’s homes; for example, a fox greatly respects convenient holes dug by a badger.	Occupies Zayushka's hut in the fairy tale “The Fox, the Hare and the Rooster”
The fox shows ingenuity and resourcefulness in any situation.	Cunning and deceiving in every fairy tale
You need to be a very experienced hunter to track down a fox, deceive it and catch it	In half of the fairy tales we read, the fox was deceived, sometimes dying from his own stupidity: sticking his tail out of the hole, he was torn apart by dogs (“A Man, a Bear and a Fox”), drowned with his head stuck in a jug ("The Fox and the Jug")

Conclusion

During my research, I found answers to many questions. I read a lot of Russian folk tales and conducted a survey among students on the research topic. Based on the fairy tales, I drew a conclusion about the image of the fox in Russian folk tales.I really enjoyed analyzing fairy tales. But my hypothesis was not fully confirmed; nevertheless, the fox can also be deceived.

While analyzing the fairy tales, I came across outdated words, the meaning of which I had to find out.

Hog - piglet, pig.

Confession - a ritual of repentance for sins before a priest.

Kvashnya – wooden or clay dishes for leavening dough, fermented dough, dough.

Choir - a place for singers in the church on both sides of the altar.

Povoy – reception of a newborn

Motherland - birthday.

I realized that you should always be very careful when reading any work of fiction, since only thoughtful reading will allow you to make some new discoveries.

Used literature and Internet sites.

Russian folk tales: Book. For self reading. Compiled, author of the preface, notes, dictionary by Yu.G. Kruglov. - M.: Education, 1983.
www.manorama.ru/article/hunting9.html
sinzhany.ru/povadki_dikoj_lisy.html
www.hunt-dogs.ru ›
rus-oxota.ru/4/16/lisa/lisa-opisanie

For children, a fairy tale is an amazing but fictitious story about magical objects, monsters and heroes. However, if you look deeper, it becomes clear that a fairy tale is a unique encyclopedia that reflects the life and moral principles of any people.

Over the course of several hundred years, people have come up with a huge number of fairy tales. Our ancestors passed them on from mouth to mouth. They changed, disappeared and came back again. Moreover, there can be completely different characters. Most often, the heroes of Russian folk tales are animals, and in European literature the main characters are often princesses and children.

Fairy tale and its meaning for the people

A fairy tale is a narrative story about fictional events that did not occur in reality with the participation of fictional heroes and magical characters. Fairy tales, composed by the people and being the creation of folklore traditions, exist in every country. Residents of Russia are closer to Russian folk tales about animals, kings and Ivan the Fool, residents of England are closer to leprechauns, gnomes, cats, etc.

Fairy tales have a powerful educational power. A child from the cradle listens to fairy tales, associates himself with the characters, puts himself in their place. Thanks to this, he develops a certain model of behavior. Folk tales about animals teach respect for our smaller brothers.

It is also worth noting that Russian fairy tales of an everyday nature include words such as “master”, “man”. This awakens curiosity in the child. With the help of fairy tales, you can interest your child in history.

Everything that is invested in a child in childhood remains with him forever. A child properly raised on fairy tales will grow up to be a decent and sympathetic person.

Composition

Most fairy tales are written according to one system. It represents the following diagram:

1) Initiation. This describes the place where the events will take place. If it’s about animals, then the description will begin with the forest. Here the reader or listener gets acquainted with the main characters.

2) The beginning. At this stage of the tale, the main intrigue occurs, which turns into the beginning of the plot. Let's say the hero has a problem and he must solve it.

3) Climax. It is also called the pinnacle of a fairy tale. Most often this is the middle of the work. The situation is heating up, the most responsible actions are taking place.

4) Denouement. At this point, the main character solves his problem. All characters live happily ever after (as a rule, folk tales have a good, kind ending).

Most fairy tales are built according to this scheme. It can also be found in original works, only with significant additions.

Russian folk tales

They represent a huge block of folklore works. Russian fairy tales are varied. Their plots, actions and characters are somewhat similar, but, nevertheless, each is unique in its own way. Sometimes you come across the same folk tales about animals, but their names are different.

All Russian folk tales can be classified as follows:

1) Folk tales about animals, plants and inanimate nature (“Terem-Teremok”, “Rock-hen”, etc.)

2) Magical (“Self-assembled tablecloth”, “Flying ship”).

3) "Vanya rode on a horse...")

4) (“About the white bull”, “The priest had a dog”).

5) Household (“The Master and the Dog”, “Good Priest”, “Good and Bad”, “Pot”).

There are quite a lot of classifications, but we looked at the one proposed by V. Ya. Propp, one of the outstanding researchers of Russian fairy tales.

Animal images

Every person who grew up in Russia can list the main animals that are characters in Russian fairy tales. Bear, wolf, fox, hare - these are the heroes of Russian fairy tales. Animals live in the forest. Each of them has its own image, which in literary criticism is called an allegory. For example, the wolf we meet in Russian fairy tales is always hungry and angry. It is always because of his anger or greed that he often gets into trouble.

The bear is the owner of the forest, the king. He is usually portrayed in fairy tales as a fair and wise ruler.

The fox is an allegory of cunning. If this animal is present in a fairy tale, then one of the other heroes will definitely be deceived. The hare is an image of cowardice. He is usually the eternal victim of the fox and wolf who intend to eat him.

So, these are the heroes that Russian folk tales about animals present to us. Let's see how they behave.

Examples

Let's look at some folk tales about animals. The list is huge, we will try to analyze only a few. For example, let's take the fairy tale "The Fox and the Crane". It tells the story of the Fox, who called the Crane to her place for dinner. She prepared some porridge and spread it on a plate. But Crane is uncomfortable eating, so he didn’t get any porridge. Such was the cunning of the thrifty Fox. The Crane invited the Fox to lunch, made okroshka and offered to eat from a high-necked jug. But Lisa never got to the okroshka. Moral of the story: whatever comes around, unfortunately, comes around.

An interesting tale about Kotofey Ivanovich. One man brought a cat to the forest and left it there. A fox found him and married him. She began to tell all the animals how strong and angry he was. The wolf and the bear decided to come and look at him. The fox warned them that it was better for them to hide. They climbed a tree, and laid the bull's meat under it. A cat and a fox came, the cat pounced on the meat and began saying: “Meow, meow...”. And the wolf and the bear think: “Not enough! Not enough!” They marveled and wanted to take a closer look at Kotofey Ivanovich. The leaves rustled, and the cat thought it was a mouse and grabbed their faces with its claws. The wolf and fox ran away.

These are Russian folk tales about animals. As you can see, the fox is fooling everyone.

Animals in English fairy tales

Positive characters in English fairy tales are a hen and a rooster, a cat and a cat, and a bear. The fox and the wolf are always negative characters. It is noteworthy that, according to research by philologists, the cat in English fairy tales has never been a negative character.

Like Russian, English folk tales about animals divide characters into good and evil. Good always triumphs over evil. Also, the works have a didactic purpose, that is, at the end there are always moral conclusions for readers.

Examples of English fairy tales about animals

The work "The Cat King" is interesting. It tells the story of two brothers who lived in the forest with a dog and a black cat. One brother was once delayed while hunting. Upon his return, he began to tell miracles. He says he saw the funeral. Many cats carried a coffin with a depicted crown and scepter. Suddenly the black cat lying at his feet raised his head and screamed: “Old Peter is dead! I am the cat king!” After that he jumped into the fireplace. No one saw him again.

Let's take the comical fairy tale "Willy and the Little Pig" as an example. One owner entrusted his stupid servant to take a pig to his friend. However, Willie's friends persuaded him to go to the tavern, and while he was drinking, they jokingly replaced the pig with a dog. Willie thought it was the devil's joke.

Animals in other genres of literature (fables)

It is worth noting that Russian literature includes not only Russian folk tales about animals. It is also rich in fables. Animals in these works have such human qualities as cowardice, kindness, stupidity, and envy. I. A. Krylov especially liked to use animals as characters. His fables “The Crow and the Fox” and “The Monkey and the Glasses” are known to everyone.

Thus, we can conclude that the use of animals in fairy tales and fables gives literature a special charm and style. Moreover, in English and Russian literature the heroes are the same animals. Only their stories and characteristics are completely different.

Studying Russian folk tales about animals, you will notice that the main character of many tales is a fox. Why did the Russian people devote so many fairy tales to this particular beast?

Slide 3

Where and how does a fox live in nature? Why did the fox become the main character of many Russian folk tales? Where did the fox get his strange middle name - Patrikeevna?

Slide 4

Learn to analyze fairy tales. Give characteristics to the main characters of the work. Find useful information. Learn to draw conclusions.

Slide 5

Data from the Encyclopedia of Animals (Volume I). Russian folk tales about animals “Fox and black grouse”, “Fox and Crane”, “Cat and Fox”, etc. 3. Materials about the fox in Russian folklore 4. Materials from Internet sites

Slide 6

Foxes live all over the globe, the most common being red ones. The fox lives in different parts of the forest, but avoids dense plantings and prefers meadow areas where there are many mice, voles and rabbits. The fox does not disdain and even eats berries with grasshoppers. The long fluffy tail gives the impression of a large animal. Actually this is not true. The length of the fox's body is 60-90 cm, the tail is 40-60 cm, the weight of males reaches 6-10 kg, and females - 5-6 kg. The fox is a close relative of the domestic dog. This nocturnal predator is increasingly appearing near cities and villages.

Slide 7

A fox walked along the bridge, carrying a bundle of brushwood. She heated the bathhouse, gave Vanka a bath, sat her in a corner, and gave her a sweet pie. The duck walked along the shore, leading her children: the largest and the smallest, the middle, the last. Two little foxes crept up and dragged a duckling into the forest...

Slide 8

Zayushkina's hut Kolobok Fox with a rolling pin Fox and wolf Fox and blackbird Cat, blackbird and rooster Fox and crane Cat and fox

Slide 9

The fox is a predatory animal with a sharp muzzle and a long fluffy tail. Why is she called a fox, and in fairy tales also called Patrikeevna? The word fox is derived from fox-. Until now, in some places we have the expressions fox (yellowish, red), zaliset (turn yellow). Consequently, the animal was nicknamed fox for its red (yellow) fur. Patrikey is an old name, derived from the Latin patrician, that is, aristocrat. This name was given only to children of the princely family. A long time ago, about 700 years ago, there lived a Novgorod prince, Patrikey Narumtvovich. And so he became famous for his resourcefulness and cunning, that the name Patrikey became a common noun, equivalent to a cunning one. And the cunning, intelligent fox, as the faithful heir of the “cunning” prince, received the patronymic PATRIKEEVNA.

Slide 10

At all times, people valued wild animals, because it was not for nothing that people endowed each animal with its own quality: BUT! The most charming and attractive is FOX. The Fox is cunning The Wolf is evil The Hare is cowardly The Bear is kind The Fox will fool anyone around his finger. In many ways, the character of a fox is similar to the character of envious and deceitful people. The fox is indeed a cunning and insidious animal. You need to be very careful with it. She easily deceived not only weak animals (hare), but also strong ones (wolf, bear), as well as humans

In fairy tales about animals, certain characters can be traced in different time frames. Therefore, one of the most important issues is the problem of differentiating fairy tales about animals and fairy tales of other genres in which animals take part.

The key to solving this problem is given by the definition of fairy tales about animals proposed by V.Ya. Propp: By fairy tales about animals we will mean those tales in which the animal is the main object or subject of the narrative. On this basis, fairy tales about animals can be distinguished from others, where animals play only a supporting role and are not the heroes of the story.

Fairy tales about animals, of course, include fairy tales where only animals act (Fox and Crane, Fox, Hare and Rooster, Fox-Midwife, Fox and Blackbird, Wolf-Fool, etc.). Of the fairy tales about the relationship between humans and animals, this genre should include those in which animals are the main characters, and people are the objects of their action, and the narrative in which is told from the point of view of animals, not humans (Wolf at the Ice-hole, Dog and Wolf, Man , bear and fox, etc.).

Tales about animals bear little resemblance to stories from the lives of animals. Animals in fairy tales act only to some extent in accordance with their nature, and to a much greater extent act as bearers of one or another character and producers of certain actions that should be attributed primarily to humans. Therefore, the world of animals in fairy tales is supplemented by human imagination; it is a form of expression of a person’s thoughts and feelings, his views on life.

Animals that speak, reason and behave like people are just a poetic convention: “The adventures of animals are projected onto human life - and it is their human meaning that makes them interesting.” Hence the main themes of Russian fairy tales about animals - human characters, virtues and vices of people, types of human relationships in everyday life, in society, sometimes these images even look satirical.

Most researchers note the problem of classifying tales about animals due to their diversity. V.Ya. wrote about the complexity of typologizing fairy tales about animals. Propp, noting the following varieties: tales about animals that exist in a cumulative form (Teremok, Kolobok, Cockerel and the Bean Seed, etc.); tales about animals, close in structure to fairy tales (The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats, the Cat, the Rooster and the Fox, etc.); tales about animals, close in structure to fables (The Wolf and the Fox); tales about animals, approaching literary works and having the form of a political pamphlet (The Tale of Ersha Ershovich).

Developing a classification of Russian fairy tales about animals based on texts collected by A.N. Afanasyev, V.Ya. Propp identifies the following groups: Tales about wild animals (Beasts in the Pit, Fox and Wolf, Fox the Midwife, Fox and the Crane, Fox the Confessor, etc.); Tales about wild and domestic animals (The Dog and the Wolf, The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats, The Cat, the Fox and the Rooster, etc.); Tales about man and wild animals (The Fox and her tail, The Man and the Bear, The old bread and salt is forgotten, The Bear is a linden leg, The Fox with a rolling pin, etc.); Tales about domestic animals (Whacked Goat, Horse and Dog, etc.); Tales about birds and fish (Crane and Heron, Cockerel and Bean Seed, Ryaba Hen, etc.); Tales about other animals, plants, mushrooms and elements (Fox and Crayfish, Teremok, Kolobok, Sun, Frost and Wind, War of the Mushrooms, etc.).

The characters of Russian folk tales about animals are represented, as a rule, by images of wild and domestic animals. Images of wild animals clearly prevail over images of domestic animals: these are fox, wolf, bear, hare, among birds - crane, heron, thrush, woodpecker, sparrow, raven, etc. Domestic animals are much less common, and they do not appear as independent or leading characters, but only in combination with forest ones: this is a dog, a cat, a goat, a ram, a horse, a pig, a bull, and among poultry - a goose, a duck and a rooster. There are no tales only about domestic animals in Russian folklore. Each of the characters is an image of a very specific animal or bird, behind which stands one or another human character, therefore the characteristics of the characters are based on observation of the habits, demeanor of the animal, and its appearance. The difference in characters is especially clearly and definitely expressed in the images of wild animals: thus, the fox is depicted primarily as a flattering, cunning deceiver, a charming robber; the wolf is like a greedy and slow-witted gray fool, always getting into trouble; the bear is like a stupid ruler, a forest oppressor who uses his power not according to reason; a hare, a frog, a mouse, forest birds - like weak, harmless creatures, always serving on errands. The ambiguity of assessments also persists when describing domestic animals: for example, a dog is portrayed as an intelligent animal, devoted to humans; the cat shows a paradoxical combination of courage and laziness; The rooster is noisy, self-confident and curious.

To understand the meaning of Russian folk tales about animals, it is necessary to work on their plot organization and composition. The plot of animalistic tales is characterized by clarity, clarity and simplicity: “Tales about animals are built on elementary actions that underlie the narrative, representing a more or less expected or unexpected end, prepared in a certain way. These simple actions are phenomena of a psychological order...” Animalistic tales are distinguished by their small volume, persistence of plot scheme and laconic artistic means of expression.

The composition of Russian fairy tales about animals is also distinguished by its simplicity and transparency. They are often one-episode (“The Fox and the Crane”, “The Crane and the Heron”, etc.). In this case, they are characterized by exaggeration of the main properties and traits of the character, which determines the unusualness and fantastic nature of their actions. However, much more often there are fairy tales with plots based on the sequential linking of the same plot links-motives. The events in them are connected by similar in nature actions of cross-cutting characters: for example, in the fairy tale “The Fox and the Wolf” there are three plot motifs - “The Fox steals fish from the sleigh”, “The wolf at the ice hole”, “The beaten one is lucky.” Multiple episodes, as a rule, do not complicate the composition, since we are usually talking about the same type of actions of characters performed in different plot situations.

In this work, we will conduct a study of two negative heroes of Russian folk tales about animals - the fox and the wolf. This choice is due not only to their popularity, but also to the fact that, using the example of these heroes, one can clearly see what vices are ridiculed and condemned in fairy tales, thereby influencing the formation of the national character of readers. Both characters are found both in different fairy tales separately, and in one together. And despite the fact that both the wolf and the fox are negative heroes, and it seems that they have a lot in common: they live in the same forests, attack the same animals, and are also afraid of the same opponents, in fairy tales they endowed with different human qualities, which is quite interesting. It is also interesting that one negative hero is male and, it turns out, he is endowed with male negative character traits, and the other hero is female, endowed with female traits, respectively, which is why the methods of achieving their goals are different, despite the fact that these the goals are the same. Thus, based on analyzes of various Russian folk tales about animals, it is possible to consider these heroes from the same positions: their appearance, features, actions, and determine which of them is smarter, smarter or more cunning, and who is stupid and naive. A comparative analysis of the wolf and the fox will also help to identify the main human vices that are ridiculed in society and find out how the presence of these heroes in Russian folk tales influences the formation of national character, which is the goal of this work.