The system of images in fairy tales about animals. Images of animals in Russian folk tales and Slavic mythology

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. Nobody 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.

Project “Animal Characters in Russian
folk tales"

Target: get acquainted with animal characters in Russian folk tales.

Tasks: learn the features of fairy tales about animals, the history and reasons for the appearance of fairy tales with main animal characters, identify the animals most often found in Russian folk tales.

While working on the project, we came to the conclusion that fairy tales about animals- the oldest group of fairy tales based on unusual heroes. These tales are associated with outdated worlds in which animal characters stood at the origins of the creation of the world. The fairy tale shows that people used to try to explain phenomena occurring in nature and were in awe of animals. This is how animal characters appeared in Russian folk tales. In a fairy tale, as in life there is positive and negative characters. Each hero has his own individual character and unique traits. The characteristics of animals in a fairy tale include several distinct characters who personify weakness, awkwardness, stupidity, cunning, cowardice, anger, and strength. We remember Russian folk tales from early childhood; our parents told us when we were 1.2 years old; they remained in our memory. After reading and remembering Russian folk tales, we came to the conclusion that out of the numerous series of animal characters, six of them are the most common.

Fox.

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.

Bear.

The bear in fairy tales represents the embodiment of brute force. Sometimes he is fierce, sometimes he is naive and kind. Being the owner of the forest, he has power over other animals, but, nevertheless, he has a simple character. The presence of physical strength in a given animal character practically excludes intelligence - the bear in fairy tales is stupid and is fooled by weak animals.

The cat in fairy tales openly demonstrates his playful disposition; in many stories he turns out to be a robber or even a thief. But at the same time, the cat is distinguished by justice and a lively resourceful mind. Thanks to his eloquence, he gets out of any difficult situations, helps the offended, and protects his friends.

Hare.

Hare- the hero is weak, but cunning. He often acts as the personification of cowardice, however, thanks to his dexterity and resourcefulness, he easily gets out of difficult situations. He can outsmart even a wolf and save his friends.

Rooster.

Rooster in fairy tales appears before us in two forms. In many fairy tales, the rooster is portrayed as frivolous and very self-confident. Sometimes he shows disobedience and violates some prohibition. And sometimes in fairy tales he acts as a wise assistant to his friends. He shows himself to be a truly fearless and strong positive character in Russian fairy tales.

Wolf.

The wolf in fairy tales traditionally represents greed and malice. He is often portrayed as stupid, so he is often fooled by more cunning characters in fairy tales, such as the Fox. The contrast between these two strong animal characters occurs in many fairy tales, and in almost all of them the wolf, being slow-witted and short-sighted, allows himself to be deceived again and again. However, in ancient cultures the image of a wolf was associated with death, so in fairy tales this animal character often eats or wants to eat someone.

Conclusions:

Some fairy-tale characters evoke antipathy in us.

We define such heroes by their negative qualities and actions.

We also find the appearance of such heroes unpleasant.

There is no need to try to be like such heroes.

Fairy tales are passed down from generation to generation.

They are based on moral values that are relevant at all times: goodness, mercy, compassion, mutual assistance. The epigraph from the fairy tale “The Raven King” reads:

Evil lives not only in fairy tales -

He walks in life without fear.

But goodness is still alive -

The ancient tale is not false.

Therefore, our life is impossible without fairy tales!

Farmanchuk Artyom

Considerable attention is paid to the consideration of such characters...

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MUNICIPAL NON-TYPICAL BUDGET

GENERAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
"LYCEUM No. 76"

Animals are carriers of certain human qualities in fairy tales and fables

Completed

Student 5 "A" class

Farmanchuk Artem

Supervisor

Biology teacher

Fedosova Elena

Nikolaevna

Novokuznetsk

2015

I Introduction 3

II Tales about animals, their features and varieties 5

III Negative animal characters in Russian folk tales 8

III.I Fox in animal tales 9

III.II Wolf in fairy tales about animals 12

III.III Bear in fairy tales about animals 14

IV Positive animal characters in Russian folk tales 15

V The role of fairy tales and fables about animals in the formation of national character 17

Bibliography 19

I Introduction

Over the course of many centuries, in the process of developing the current images of animals in Russian folk tales, literature was created that explored and described the folklore characteristics of the heroes of fairy tales from various regions, countries, etc.

In such works V.Ya. Propp as “Historical roots of a fairy tale”, “Russian fairy tale” and “Morphology of a fairy tale”, E.V. Pomerantseva “The Fates of a Russian Fairy Tale”, V.P. Anikin “Russian folk tale” gives an idea of the structure of a fairy tale, its types, and the large number of different types of fairy tale heroes. Books by O.M. Ivanova-Kazas “Mythological Zoology” (dictionary) and E. A. Kostyukhina “Types and Forms of Animal Epic” help to examine in detail the most famous heroes of fairy tales about animals and create their collective image based on a comparative analysis of these heroes and their actions.

The heroes of fairy tales are often animals, personifying people with different characters.

It is also 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.

Enough attention is paid to the consideration of such characters, but there is not enough literature explaining the role of their existence in fairy tales about animals, which is due to the relevance of the topic of the course work.

Goal: Describe the heroes of Russian folk tales and fables about animals.

Tasks:

A study of Russian folk tales and its animal heroes.

Creation of a comparative analysis of the data of the heroes and their actions.

To prove the educational role of fairy tales and fables through the necessity of the existence of animal heroes.

Subject of study:

Object of study:

Animal heroes of Russian folk tales and fables.

Methods:

Theoretical method

Method of analysis

Questionnaire method

Comparative method

Research material:

Russian folk tales and fables about animals.

II Tales about animals, their features and varieties

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 distinguishing between 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: “Tales about animals will mean those tales in which the animal is the main object or subject of the narrative. On this basis, 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 tales where only animals act (“The Fox and the Crane”, “The Fox, the Hare and the Rooster”, “The Fox-Midwife”, “The Fox and the Blackbird”, “The Fool-Wolf”, etc.). d.). Of the fairy tales about the relationship between man and animals, this genre should include those in which animals are the main characters, and people are the objects of their action, and the narration in which is told from the point of view of animals, not humans (“The Wolf at the Ice Hole,” “The 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 types of tales about animals. Propp, noting the following varieties: tales about animals that exist in a cumulative form (“Teremok”, “Kolobok”, “The 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 a political form (“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 Midwife”, “Fox and Crane”, “Fox Confessor”, etc.); Tales about wild and domestic animals (“The Dog and the Wolf”, “The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids”, “The Cat, the Fox and the Rooster”, etc.); Tales about humans and wild animals (“The Fox and Her Tail”, “The Man and the Bear”, “The Bear is a Linden Leg”, “The Fox with a Rolling Pin”, etc.); Tales about domestic animals (“The Whacked Goat”, “The Horse and the Dog”, etc.); Tales about birds and fish (“The Crane and the Heron”, “The Cockerel and the Bean Seed”, “The 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 has a 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, which is distinguished 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, known well prepared. These simplest actions are phenomena of a psychological nature...” They are often one-episode (“The Fox and the Crane”, “The Crane and the Heron”, etc.). 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 actions of cross-cutting characters of a similar nature: 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.

III Negative animal characters in Russian folk tales

In this work, I conducted 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.

III.I Fox in fairy tales about animals

One of the most famous fairy tales involving a fox is “The Tale of the Fox and the Wolf.”

It begins with the fact that the fox wants to eat fish, but doesn’t know where to get it. And, to achieve her goal, she decides to lie down on the road. A man notices her on the road and puts her in his cart with fish. While the man is riding and rejoicing at his good find, the fox gnaws a hole in the sleigh and lowers the fish down to the ground. The fox fishes out almost all the fish, and then runs off into the forest. When the man saw that there was no fox or fish, he was very upset. Meanwhile, the fox runs to collect fish and feast on it. On the road she meets a wolf who asks her where the fish is from, how she caught it and where. In order to get rid of the wolf and not share the prey with him, she tells him that the tail must be lowered into the hole and utter special words so that the fish will catch better. So the stupid wolf ran to the ice hole. While he was sitting and waiting for the fish, the tail froze in the hole so that there was no way to get it out. A woman with a rocker saw a wolf. At first she chased him, and when she realized that he was frozen, she began to beat him so that the wolf’s tail came off. And at this time the fox runs into the hut where the woman lived and begins to knead the dough. While she was kneading, she got all dirty in the dough, went and lay down on the road. The wolf met her again, said that nothing had worked out for him, and noticing that the fox was lying all white, he got scared and began to ask what happened to her. The fox told him that they had broken her head with a yoke. The wolf took pity on her, put her on his back and took her home. And the fox rode on his back and said, smiling: “The beaten one carries the unbeaten!”

In Russian folk tales about animals, the fox is often the enemy of the wolf. This “gossip darling” often arouses our sympathy for her dexterity, courage and resourcefulness in fooling the wolf. And in the fairy tale presented above, the fox’s imagination and resourcefulness have no boundaries. For the sake of her own benefit, the fox deceives the wolf, the man, and, most likely, would be ready to deceive and frame anyone for the sake of her goal - food and warm shelter. And therefore, despite all the sympathy for her, it would still be a mistake to talk about her as a positive character. The fox's cunning and ingenuity coexist with unbridled arrogance, hypocrisy and betrayal.

Among the tales about animals, there are also those in which not only human, but also social vices are condemned, although there are few of them. For example, the fairy tale “The Fox and Kotofey Ivanovich”. Worship of rank and bribery are depicted in it with inimitable brilliance. A cat, expelled from home, thanks to a resourceful fox who supposedly marries him, becomes Kotofey Ivanovich - the “boss” of all forest animals, because the fox, through deception, passes him off to everyone as a terrible beast. Even the strongest inhabitants of the forest - the bear and the wolf - are forced to serve him, and the cat freely robs and presses everyone.

In Russian folk tales about animals, the fox also appears before us in the form of a sweet-voiced red-haired beauty who can talk to anyone. Thus, in the fairy tale “The Fox the Confessor,” before eating the rooster, she convinces him to confess his sins; at the same time, the hypocrisy of the clergy is wittily ridiculed. The fox turns to the rooster: “Oh, my dear child, rooster!” She tells him the biblical parable of the publican and the Pharisee, and then eats him.

Another fairy tale whose plot is known to everyone is “Kolobok”. The tale is a chain of homogeneous episodes depicting Kolobok's meetings with various talking animals intending to eat him, but the Kolobok escapes from everyone except the fox. With each animal, the bun enters into a discussion, in which each time he explains his departure: “I left my grandmother, I left my grandfather, and I will leave you, bear (wolf, hare),.” The fox, as usual, with the help of deception, pretending to be partially deaf, catches Kolobok in his vanity and, taking advantage of his kindness, which is expressed in his readiness to repeat the song closer to the ear and mouth of the fox, eats him.

The fox's stupidity is described in the fairy tale "The Fox and the Blackbird." The thrush built a nest and brought out the chicks. The fox found out about this and began to scare the blackbird by saying that he would destroy his nest. First, the fox demanded that the thrush give her food. The blackbird fed the fox pies and honey. Then the fox demanded that the blackbird give her something to drink. The thrush gave the fox beer. Again the fox came to the thrush and demanded to make her laugh. The thrush made the fox laugh. The fox came to the thrush again and demanded to scare her. So the thrush led the fox to a pack of dogs. The fox got scared, ran away from the dogs, climbed into a hole, and started talking to itself. She quarreled with the tail and stuck it out of the hole. So the dogs grabbed her by the tail and ate her. This is how stupidity and greed are always punished in Russian folk tales about animals.

Having examined several fairy tales with the participation of a fox, we can conclude that in most cases the fox is a negative hero, personifying cunning, deceit, deceit, guile and selfishness. But you can also notice that if she, together with other animals, opposes the wolf, she receives a positive assessment, and if she herself harms others, she receives a negative assessment. Quite often you can see fairy tales about the cunning fox and the stupid wolf, in which the fox deceives the wolf for her own benefit. But the fox is just as much a predator as the wolf. She drives the bunny out of his hut, eats thrush chicks, deceives other animals, for example, a bear, or even people, and she always wants to eat a rooster, black grouse, bun, and hare. And she pays cruelly for these actions. After all, cunning bordering on betrayal cannot be justified. Even the fox's appearance is deceptive: it is usually described as very attractive, red-haired, with eyes that speak of its cunning.

III.II Wolf in fairy tales about animals

The wolf is a fairly popular character in Russian folk tales, but in the minds of Russian people his image is endowed with mostly negative characteristics. Most often in Russian folk tales, the wolf is a stupid and simple-minded animal, which everyone is constantly deceiving and setting up (“Sister Fox and the Wolf”, “Wolf and Goat”, “Fool Wolf”, “Winter Quarter of Animals”). But it should be noted that even when the wolf in fairy tales is represented as a fool, he is never mean and low, unlike the fox.

It was already said earlier that fairy tales about animals were created not only for the edification of little ones. Many of them use funny fiction and jokes to ridicule vices. And, for example, the embodiment of stupidity in fairy tales is often the wolf. His stupidity is the stupidity of a cruel and greedy beast. Storytellers seem to deliberately put the wolf in conditions that justify his actions, which should make the listener feel pity for him, but this does not happen, because there is no place in life for stupidity, cruelty and greed - this is the main thesis of fairy tales.

One of the most famous fairy tales about the wolf is the fairy tale “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats.” A mother goat, leaving the house, warns her kids to beware of the wolf that wanders nearby. Meanwhile, the wolf, taking advantage of the opportune moment, knocks on the goat's door and declares that he is their mother. And the kids respond by saying that their mother’s voice is soft, while his voice is rough. To soften his voice, the wolf eats a piece of honey, but the kids still don’t let him in because their mother’s paws are white, not black, like the wolf’s. Then he goes to the mill and gets his paws dirty in flour. The kids let the wolf in, who immediately eats them all, except for the smallest one, hidden in the stove. Returning home, the mother goat sees the destruction caused by the wolf and the smallest kid who escaped, who tells her about what happened. She goes after the wolf and finds him sleeping with a full stomach, in which something is stirring. The mother goat rips open the wolf's belly, and six kids emerge alive. Instead of kids, their mother fills the wolf's belly with stones. The next morning, the goat met the wolf and invited him to compete in jumping over the fire, the goat jumped over, the wolf also jumped, but the stones pulled him down. So the wolf burned. Another version of the ending - the wolf woke up with stones in his stomach, became thirsty, went to the stream, slipped, fell into the water and drowned from the weight.

In this fairy tale, the wolf is cruel and merciless; for the sake of his prey, he is able to deceive the little goats who are left alone at home. By deception (speaking in the voice of a mother goat), he tells the kids that he is their mother and asks to let him in home. And when they let him in, the wolf eats all the kids except one, which he did not notice. It is thanks to the little goat that evil, greed and mercilessness are punished in this fairy tale.

In “The Tale of the Wolf and the Fox,” the wolf appears before readers in a slightly different image - a stupid and naive animal that is easy to deceive. The fox in his house manipulates and controls the wolf, cleverly charming him. At the very beginning of the fairy tale, it is said that the fox lived in an ice hut, and the wolf lived in a twig hut, and when spring came, the fox’s hut melted, and she began to ask the wolf to live in the wolf’s house. The wolf took pity on her and foolishly let her in. Every day the fox managed to deceive the wolf: she said that guests were coming to her and went out to them to eat his sour cream and butter, and slowly changed her sleeping place so that it was closer to the stove. So, the fox moved to sleep on the stove, and the wolf moved under the stove. The fairy tale ended with the fact that, continuing to deceive the wolf, the fox remained to live in his house forever, becoming the mistress there, and making the wolf a servant.

The stupidity of the wolf is also described in the fairy tale “How the Fox Sewed a Fur Coat for the Wolf.” The stupid wolf asked the sly fox to sew him a fur coat. The fox received sheep from the wolf: she ate the meat and sold the wool. And when the wolf ran out of patience and asked for his fur coat, the fox killed him by deception.

So, from the fairy tales discussed above, we can conclude that the wolf is often stupid, but this is not his main feature: he is cruel, ferocious, angry, greedy - these are his main qualities. He eats a poor old man's horse, breaks into the animals' winter quarters and disrupts their peaceful life, wants to eat the kids, deceiving them with a song. But such qualities are never encouraged in fairy tales, so the wolf always gets what he deserves.

III.III Bear in fairy tales about animals

It is impossible not to mention such a hero of fairy tales as the bear, which is the embodiment of brute force. Sometimes he is fierce, sometimes he is naive and kind. Being the owner of the forest, he has power over other animals, but, nevertheless, he has a simple character. The presence of physical strength in a given animal character practically excludes intelligence - the bear in fairy tales is stupid and is fooled by weak animals. You can see a parallel between the image of a bear and the image of rich landowners during serfdom. Therefore, people and other animals, symbolizing the free and cunning Russian people in fairy tales, often try to outwit and fool the bear. For example, the bear is left with nothing (fairy tale "Man and bear ") or is completely eaten by a crowd of people ("Bear - fake leg "). In some fairy tales, the bear is lazy, calm and values his peace very much. There are also fairy tales in which the bear manifests itself as a kind animal character who helps people. For example, the bear gives gifts to Masha, thereby acting as a symbol of the good forces of nature that love hard work and honesty.

IV Positive animal characters in Russian folk tales

I also analyzed positive animal characters in Russian folk tales, which represent a whole gallery of diverse characters. Of course, all these characters metaphorically reflect the world of people - their actions, the fears of the weak before the strong, resourcefulness and kindness. In fairy tales about animals, humans play a minor role or are absent altogether. In Russian fairy tales, positive animal characters are very widely represented. They always win thanks to their intelligence and resourcefulness.

Often a cat in fairy tales openly demonstrates its playful disposition; in many stories it turns out to be a robber or even a thief. But at the same time, the cat is distinguished by justice and a lively resourceful mind. Thanks to his eloquence, he gets out of any difficult situations, helps the offended, and protects his friends. Moreover, the cat does not have obvious power; its true power lies in the word. The wise words of a cat can strike fear into animals many times larger than him. For example, in the fairy tale "Cat and fox “The cat calls himself Voivode and makes even such strong animal characters as a bear and a wolf tremble. You can also remember the fairy tale “Cat - gray forehead, goat and ram ", in which a cat and his friends cleverly deceive the wolves.

The rooster in fairy tales appears to us from two sides. In many fairy tales, the rooster is portrayed as frivolous and very self-confident. Sometimes he shows disobedience, violates some prohibition and as a result ends up stolen. It's like a fairytale "Cockerel - golden comb “- the fox steals the rooster, and his friends come to the hero’s rescue. This characterizes him as a weak hero, however, there is another side. The rooster in fairy tales acts as a wise assistant to his friends or people, as was the case in fairy tales "Rooster and millstones " And " Fox and Hare " He manifests himself as truly fearless and strong positive characters in Russian fairy tales.

The hare is a weak but cunning hero. He often acts as the personification of cowardice, however, thanks to his dexterity and resourcefulness, he easily gets out of difficult situations. For example, in the fairy tale "Boasting Hare "The hero helps save the crow. There is an obvious change in the image of the hare in fairy tales: at first it appears to us as a symbol of cowardice and timidity (“Fox and Hare "), but as the story progresses we see how this cowardly hero transforms. He can outsmart even a wolf and save his friends.

The hedgehog in the fairy tale is an intelligent and cautious animal character. He expresses kindness and friendliness, and often reconciles animal characters with each other, resolves their dispute, and finds justice. Fairy tales sometimes explain the appearance of spines on a hedgehog, with the help of which it can not only defend itself, but also resist larger animals. There may even be heroic glory about him (the fairy tale “The Hedgehog”).

The mouse in fairy tales is hardworking and kind, although it is often emphasized that “a mouse’s brain is smaller than a pea.” She often acts as a savior, and the reward for this is not at all large - just a spoonful of porridge, for example. The mouse often helps people - carries water in a fairy tale "Fear has big eyes "and can even save lives ("Daughter and stepdaughter "). This is a strong animal character, who sometimes plays a decisive role in the development of the plot of a fairy tale - and helps to pull out the turnip (“turnip "), and does something completely impossible and beyond the strength of people - he breaks the golden egg ("Chicken"). Despite its small size, the role of the mouse in fairy tales turns out to be very significant.

V The role of fairy tales and fables about animals in the formation of national character

Russian folk tales about animals show what the people condemned in society, their enemies and even in themselves. They ridiculed cruelty, boasting, flattery, corruption and much more. And, often, thus, in fairy tales, precisely due to the presence of animals, in simple content such ideas are hidden that form the essence of the moral code of the people. Those stories that unfold in fairy tales about animals are a kind of dramatization of real life situations. It is not for nothing that such fairy tales have a morally instructive role, because their heroes personify certain human qualities, and that is why a cunning person is called a fox, a cowardly person is called a hare, and a stupid person is called a wolf. Tales about animals are parables that show the reader what is respected and what is not.

The character of each person is made up of emotional, volitional and moral traits, the foundations of which are laid in early childhood. Parents read fairy tales to their children, with the help of which they learn about the world. Therefore, fairy tales have an educational role, because a fairy tale is centuries-old folk wisdom. Through it, the child learns about the world around him and his place in this world, receives his first ideas about good and evil, friendship and betrayal, courage and cowardice. These ideas appear precisely through the images of heroes of fairy tales, including animals, because sometimes animals at the end of a fairy tale become more moral, going through certain moralizing tests, and sometimes it is animals that are those “moral teachers” in a fairy tale, with the help of which morality is determined . There are many similar characters in Russian folk tales, the consideration of which has led to very interesting results. The identification of similar features in animals and humans (speech - cry, behavior - habits) served as the basis for combining their qualities with human qualities in the images of animals: animals speak and behave like people. This combination also led to the typification of the characters of animals, which became the embodiment of certain qualities: the fox - cunning, the wolf - stupidity and greed, the bear - gullibility, and the hare - cowardice. Thus, fairy tales acquired an allegorical meaning: animals began to mean people of certain characters. Images of animals became a means of moral teaching, and then social satire, which led to the development of national character, because in fairy tales about animals not only negative qualities (stupidity, laziness, talkativeness) are ridiculed, but also the oppression of the weak, greed, and deception for profit are condemned .

The animal plays a special role not only in folk tales, but also in fables. Turning to Krylov's fables, one can see that the animal in them sometimes causes laughter, sometimes not. In such fables as “The Wolf and the Lamb,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Wolf in the Kennel,” and a number of other fables, animals are not funny. But let’s take the fables “The Monkey and the Glasses”, “The Frog and the Ox”, “The Quartet” and many others - and we’re already having fun. In the image of a fidgety monkey, a frog puffed up with arrogance, a stupid monkey, a donkey, a goat and a bear, we can easily recognize people with all their shortcomings.

Bibliography

1. Afanasyev A.N. “Russian folk tales: complete edition in one volume”, M., 2010.

2. Anikin V.P. Russian folktale. M., 1984.

3. Vedernikova N.M. Russian folktale. M., 1975.

4. Ivanova-Kazas O.M. Mythological zoology (dictionary), St. Petersburg, Faculty of Philology, 2004.

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

6. Nikiforov A.I. Folk children's tale of dramatic genre. L., 1928.

7. Propp V.Ya. Historical roots of fairy tales.

8. Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. M., 98.

9. Propp V.Ya. Russian fairy tale. L., 1984.

10. Pomerantseva E.V. The fate of the Russian fairy tale, M., 1965.

11. Tales about animals, Tula, 2000.

12. Tales of hares, Tyumen, 1959.

13. Fairy tales about the fox, retold by O. Kapitsa and A. Tolstoy for preschool children, L., 1970.

14. Fundamental electronic library. Russian literature and folklore. http://feb-web.ru/feb/feb/atindex/atindx01.htm#

Krendelev Anton

Tales about animals are not only entertaining and funny, but also instructive.

Man attributed to animals the ability to reason and speak, but people’s misconceptions were also permeated by the desire to understand the life of animals, to master the means of taming them, protecting them from attack, and methods of hunting.

The most common heroes of fairy tales about animals are the fox and the wolf. This is explained by the fact that, firstly, people most often had to deal with them in economic activity; secondly, these animals occupy the middle in the animal kingdom in size and strength; finally, thirdly, thanks to the previous two reasons, a person had the opportunity to get to know them very closely.

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IV regional youth “Philological readings”

Municipal educational institution Mikhailovskaya secondary school

Krendelev Anton

Municipal educational institution Mikhailovskaya secondary school, 5th grade, 11 years old

Competition entry

Genre: Exploration

“Images of animals in Russian folk tales”

Teacher-mentor:

Yablokova Svetlana Vladimirovna

Teacher of Russian language and literature

Mikhailovsky village, Yaroslavl municipal district, 2010.

1.Introduction 2 pages

2. Chapter “Images of animals in Russian folk tales”

1.1 The Fox of the Seven Wolves will spend 5 pages.

1.2. The wolf changes its fur, but not its character 7 p.

1.3. A bear, although old, is worth two foxes 9 p.

1.4. Soft paws, and in the paws there are scratches 11 p.

3. Conclusion 12 pages.

4. References 14 pages.

Introduction

What is a fairy tale? This is a beautiful world of magic and transformation in which we live in childhood, where reality ends and this world, amazing and incomprehensible, begins. This is a world in which good triumphs over evil, which is probably why this genre is so loved by children.

And speaking in scientific language, a fairy tale is a type of narrative, mostly prosaic folklore. Its history goes back a long way. Word " fairy tale " recorded in written sources of the 16th century. From the word"show". Meaning: list, list, exact description. The word has acquired its modern meaning since the 19th century. Until the 19th century, the 11th century word was used - blasphemy.

There are several types of Russian folk tales: magical, everyday, tales about animals.The purpose of my work is to identify the features of animal images in folk tales. To achieve the goal, a number of tasks must be solved:

identify the place and features of the depiction of animals in fairy tales;
see whether they are the main or secondary person;
consider character traits;

I used several folk tale sources to write my work.

This type of fairy tales differs significantly from other types of fairy tales. A fairy tale about animals is a work in which the main characters are animals, birds, fish, as well as objects, plants and natural phenomena. The question of the original origins of fantasy in fairy tales about animals has worried scientists for many decades. The beliefs of the Russian people and, in general, the beliefs of the East Slavic peoples allow us to assume with all confidence which animals were the heroes of mythical stories and legends of ancient fables. The peculiarity of these legends was that the animals were endowed with various human qualities, but in the animals they saw precisely the animals. Not all stories and legends of this kind have disappeared from the memory of the people. Their traces are preserved in fairy tales thattraditionally acceptedfrom ancient fables some of its essential features. This is the tale of the bear on a fake leg. This fairy tale is unknown in Western Europe. Its origin is purely East Slavic. The system of characters in Russian folk tales about animals is 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, and among birds - crane, heron, thrush, woodpecker, sparrow, raven, etc. Domestic animals are much less common, and do not appear as independent or leading characters, but only in conjunction with forest birds: a dog, a cat, a goat, a ram, a horse, a pig, a bull, and among domestic birds - a goose, a duck and a rooster. There are no tales only about domestic animals in Russian folklore.

In fairy tales about animals, animals implausibly argue, talk, quarrel, love, make friends, and quarrel: the cunning “fox is beautiful in conversation,” the stupid and greedy “wolf-wolf who grabs from under a bush,” the cowardly bow-legged bunny who hops up the hill "

The fox will lead seven wolves

The favorite hero of Russian fairy tales about animals, as well as all East Slavic fairy tales, was the fox.

The image of the fox is stable. She is portrayed as a lying, cunning deceiver: she deceives a man by pretending to be dead (“The Fox steals fish from a sleigh”); deceives the wolf (“The Fox and the Wolf”); deceives the rooster (“The Cat, the Rooster and the Fox”); drives the hare out of the bast hut (“The Fox and the Hare”); exchanges a goose for a lamb, a lamb for a bull, steals honey (“The Bear and the Fox”). In all fairy tales, she is flattering, vengeful, cunning, calculating.Lisa Patrikeevna, the beautiful fox, the butterfly sponge fox, the godmother fox, Lisafya. Here she lies on the road with glassy eyes. She was numb, the man decided, he kicked her, she wouldn’t wake up. The man was delighted, took the fox, put it in a cart with fish, covered it with matting: “The old woman will have a collar for her fur coat,” and started the horse from its place, walking in front. The fox threw all the fish out of the cart and left. The man realized that the fox was not dead, but it was already too late. There's nothing to do.

The fox is true to herself everywhere in fairy tales. Her cunning is conveyed in the proverb: “When you look for a fox in front, it is behind.” She is resourceful and lies recklessly until the time when it is no longer possible to lie, but even in this case she often indulges in the most incredible invention. The fox thinks only about his own benefit. If the deal does not promise her acquisitions, she will not sacrifice anything of hers. The fox is vindictive and vindictive.

Fairy tales often depict the triumph of a fox. She revels in revenge, feels complete superiority over the gullible heroes. How much resourcefulness she has and how much vengeful feeling she has! Both are so often found in people with a practical, resourceful mind, overwhelmed by petty passions... Infinitely deceitful, she takes advantage of gullibility, plays on the weak strings of friends and foes.

I have a lot of pranks and pranks in my memory.foxes. She chases the hare out of the bast hut (“The Fox and the Hare”), exchanges the rolling pin for a goose, the goose for a lamb, the lamb for a bull, threatens the thrush to eat the chicks, forces him to water, feed, and even make himself laugh (“The Fox and the Blackbird”) . The fox marries the cat-voivode with the hope of seizing power in the entire forest district (“The Cat and the Fox”), learns to fly (“How the Fox Learned to Fly”), orders the wolf to take the oath to be sure of the correctness of his words: indeed Is the sheep wearing a wolf caftan? The wolf foolishly stuck his head into a trap and got caught (“Sheep, Fox and Wolf”). The fox steals the stored honey (“The Bear and the Fox”).

The fox is a pretender, a thief, a deceiver, evil, unfaithful, flattering, vindictive, clever, vindictive, cunning, selfish, calculating, cruel. In fairy tales, she is faithful to these traits of her character throughout.

The wolf changes its fur, but not its character

Another hero that the fox often encounters is the wolf. He is stupid, which is expressed in the attitude of the people towards him, he devours kids (“Wolf and Goat”), is going to tear apart a sheep (“Sheep, Fox and Wolf”), fattens a hungry dog in order to eat it, is left without a tail (“Fox and wolf").More often than other animals, the fox deceives the wolf and laughs cruelly at him. Who do people understand in this image?? In fairy tales, the wolf is infinitely stupid.Phenomenal stupidity discredits the wolf. This image expressed not so much the real characteristics of the human type that the wolf personifies, but rather the attitude towards it.

Let us think about why the wolf takes blows from angry women who come to the river by water, why, having barely survived one misfortune, the wolf ends up in another. The tale ends with the death of the wolf. The wolf dies a cruel death, only to come to life in a new fairy tale and again accept an evil death. What ineradicable evil is being driven out and executed by the people?

An insatiable thirst for blood, the traits of a rapist who recognizes one right - the right of the strong, the right of the teeth - without this trait a wolf is not a wolf. The social prototype of this fairy-tale character becomes clear. The people knew many scoundrels and criminals from whom they had a hard time.

Tales about the wolf do not hide who they mean... The irony of fiction lies in playing on a folk custom.

The tale of how a wolf slaughtered a pig (“The Pig and the Wolf”) depicts in the image of a wolf a cruel and unforgiving master who exacted money from the peasants for poisoning. There lived an old man and with him an old woman. The only livestock they have is a pig. The devil took her, and into someone else's lane - into oats. A wolf came running there, “he grabbed the pig by the bristles, dragged it away by the legs and tore it to pieces.”

Such tales contain that sharp social allegory that made the tale interesting for adults as well. Fantasy narratives talk about social class relations. We cannot ignore this meaning if we do not want to see Fairy tales are just fun.

Fantastic fiction in these fairy tales is also connected with their ideological concept. Boyar, the master is cruel as a wolf, you cannot expect mercy from him, you can only deal with him as the proverb advises: “Trust the wolf in the torok,” that is, the killed one. The fairy tale conveys, as it were, the essence of the wolf law, according to which the weak becomes a victim of the strong. The prince, the boyar, did not need to be cunning. His right is the right of a cruel and strong master. Such is the fairy-tale wolf. The storytellers took revenge on the oppressors, exposed their moral rudeness and lack of intelligence: the system of social oppression, resorting to the force of the fist, rod and weapon, did not require mental effort from its founders and defenders.

A bear, although old, is worth two foxes

Another hero of fairy tales about animals is the bear. He personifies brute strength and has power over other animals. In fairy tales he is often called “the oppressor of everyone.” The bear is also stupid. Persuading with the peasant to harvest the harvest, he is left with nothing each time (“The Man and the Bear”).

The human type embodied in the bear is partly similar to that reproduced in the image of the wolf. It is not for nothing that the wolf often replaces the bear in fairy tales. These are the numerous versions of fairy tales: “A Man, a Bear and a Fox”, “A Bear, a Dog and a Cat”, etc. However, the similarity of the images is only partial. In the minds of any person familiar with fairy tales, the bear is a beast of the highest rank. He is the most powerful forest animal. When in fairy tales one animal replaces another, the bear is in the position of the strongest. Such is the tale of the little tower, the beasts in the pit, and other tales. One must think that this position of the bear in the animal hierarchy is explained in its own way by its connection with those traditional pre-story mythological legends in which the bear occupied the most important place as the owner of forest lands. Perhaps, over time, the bear began to be seen as the embodiment of the sovereign, the ruler of the district. Fairy tales constantly emphasized the enormous strength of the bear. He crushes everything that comes under his feet.

The stupidity of a bear is the difference between the stupidity of a wolf. The wolf is slow-witted, not stupid. The stupidity of a bear is the stupidity of a person in power. The bear does not use his strength wisely. There is an assumption that the bear represents a person in authority.

The bear is the owner of the forest, has great strength and a rich fur coat, which is obviously why he was assigned the role of a landowner. These tales describe the life of captivity of the Russian people, the period of serfdom. Then the peasants paid rent (half a field of wheat, which for some reason was called tithe) and worked corvée (they worked in a bear’s house, sometimes it lasted 6 days). The bear decided when to let Masha go and how much to rip off the man. Through such a prism, it becomes clear not only the difficult life of the once free Russian people, but also why they constantly tried to outwit the bear, and even hunt it down with dogs. It is worth noting that in Russian fairy tales the landowner is always stupider than the peasant, and the image of the landowner - the bear - is endowed with the same intelligence. Behind these images is the thought: “You may be a strong gentleman, but I’m smart and I’ll stick to my guns!”

There are fairy tales where the bear gives Masha gifts and punishes her lazy sister. Here the image of a bear carries within itself the image of nature, good and evil. If a person works honestly, then nature rewards him with its gifts, but whoever is lazy has no water flowing.

Soft paws, and scratches in the paws

Among domestic animals and birds, the cat is a positive hero in fairy tales. In a Russian folk tale, a cat (it's a cat, not a cat) is often found in the image of a savior from various misfortunes. For example, take the cycle of fairy tales" Cat, rooster and fox", which A.N. Afanasyev go by numbers. These tales are very similar, and in essence almost the same. They only replace some of the heroes. He acts as a gallant defender of the rooster. Moreover, the cat has excellent hearing, he is smart and caring. That is, in these fairy tales the cat acts as a positive hero. To summarize the conversation about the cat, we can note some common features. Firstly, animals everywhere are afraid of cats. Secondly, a cat always has a name, and with a patronymic. The cat is selfless in friendship. The warlike rooster is ready to come to the aid of anyone who is offended. However, the positivity of these characters is very conditional. The tale of how a rooster drove a fox out of a hare's hut (“The Fox, the Hare and the Rooster”) is basically a cheerful humoresque. The irony is that the rooster - the fox's prey - managed to scare the lover of white chicken meat. The fairy tale “Cat in the Voivodeship” is ironic - it makes a lover of hut warmth, a bakery resident, a hero by coincidence of circumstances: the wolf, hiding in a pile of leaves, began to stir; the cat thought there was a mouse there, jumped, the wolf jumped to the side, and a general commotion began - the flight of the animals. Only in the fairy tale “The Cat, the Rooster and the Fox” is the cat truly a hero. This fairy tale was probably created for children from the very beginning.

It should be concluded that in all the Russian fairy tales reviewed, the cat is shown to be dexterous and cunning. In a number of fairy tales, he is a warrior and comes to the aid of his friends. He loves to bask on the stove and enjoy sour cream or fresh mouse. He might stage a “massacre”, or he might resign himself to death. The characteristics of fairy tales certainly depend on the characteristics of the people of a particular region. After all, despite the fact that there is one people - Russian, people are still different.

Conclusion

In the course of working on this topic, we conducted a survey among students in grades 3-6. The following questions were proposed:

How many fairy tales about animals have you read?
What animals were most common in fairy tales?
What features are present?
What do fairy tales about animals teach?

The survey yielded the following results:

1 question: 1 fairy tale-6%

2 fairy tales -18%

Several - 76%

Question 2: wolf - 7%

Bear-18%

Fox – 75%

Question 3: The fox is cunning

Bear - stupidity

The wolf is angry

question: Kindness

Love

Don't hurt the little ones.

To summarize all of the above, it should be noted: fairy tales about animals are not only entertaining and funny, but also instructive.

The wolf, like the bear, in popular beliefs appears as an animal in whose honor holidays were held. They did not call him by his real name, fearing that he himself would be called out by doing so. A hostile and dangerous creature, the wolf evoked respect and fear.

From experience, people knew that the wolf is a predatory, cunning, intelligent, resourceful, and evil creature. Meanwhile, in fairy tales the wolf is stupid and easy to deceive. There seems to be no such trouble, no matter what this unlucky, always hungry, always beaten beast might find himself in.

The respectful attitude towards the fox expressed in beliefs also contradicts the outright mockery with which fairy tales tell about its frequent mistakes and failures. The beliefs of the Russian people and, in general, the beliefs of the East Slavic peoples allow us to assume with all confidence which animals were the heroes of mythical stories and legends of ancient fables.

References

Anikin V.P. Russian folk tale M., “Enlightenment”, 1977
Afanasiev. A.N. Russian folk tales / Ed. Georgian. - Ed. 3rd. - 1897.
Vedernikova N .M. Russian folk tale M., “Science”

4) Fokeev A.L. “An inexhaustible source. Oral folk art" ed. "Lyceum"

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The word "fairy tale" appears in written sources around the 16th century. Our distant ancestors called the fairy tale “blasphemous.” In the 11th century, after the baptism of Rus', the blasphemy lost its mythological, sacred meaning. It received a new name - fable, which lasted until the 19th century, giving way in turn to the name we know as a fairy tale.

Russian fairy tales are filled with images of a wide variety of domestic animals, animals, birds and fish. In everyday fairy tales, they act and speak like ordinary people; they have positive and negative traits. Each image carries a certain meaning: foxes are cunning, wolves are stupid, roosters are boastful, dogs are unhappy and kind, cats are important, etc.

They perform completely different functions in fairy tales. All of them are endowed with wonderful properties, with the help of which they become powerful helpers, patrons of the fairy tale hero, and sometimes enemies.

The ancient Slav transferred his knowledge about earthly animals in his imagination to celestial atmospheric phenomena. Thus, he explained the whistle of the wind, the thunder of lightning, clouds obscuring the sun, snow and rain by the screaming, running and fighting of various celestial animals, birds, and fiery snakes.

In some fairy tales, animals occupy a position equivalent to humans. In others, they play a minor role, helping the hero. A large number of species of different animals, endowed with many magical properties, live in fairy tales, influencing the fate of the hero.

The functions that these animals perform can be as follows: 1. Assistants to the hero of a fairy tale; 2. Werewolf friends; 3. Prophets; 4. Rare animals with wonderful properties; 5. Enemies of the hero; 7. Helpers of the hero’s enemies; 8. Werewolf enemies and others.

Researchers have examined only two characters in the most detail: the snake and the horse.

Snakes are overwhelmingly the main enemy. V. Ya. Propp connects his image with the mythical image of the main spirit of the initiation rite, the fearsome spirit (absorber), whom all the uninitiated are afraid of.

When meeting a snake, the hero faces the danger of sleep and falling asleep. The serpent never tries to kill the hero with weapons, paws, or teeth - he tries to drive the hero into the ground (i.e. into sin) and thereby destroy him. The snake can only be destroyed by cutting off all its heads, that is, by defeating one’s senses.

In Russian folk tales, the snake is the guardian of the border to the Kingdom of Heaven. The border itself is described as a fiery river called Smorodinka (“mor” - death, “one” - one; that is, there is one death). A bridge called “Kalinovy” leads across it. The one who kills the snake, that is, defeats all his animal elements, will be able to cross the bridge.

Unlike the snake, the horse is an assistant - a friend and adviser to the hero, possessing various magical properties.

The wonderful horse in Russian fairy tales is called, for example: “Sivka-burka.” The epithet “brown” is related to the words “storm”, “buran” and means “to seethe”, “to make noise”, “to rage”. In a number of Slavic folk tales, violent winds, walking clouds, thunderclouds, and quickly flashing lightning are called heavenly horses.

Being the personification of gusty winds, storms and flying clouds, fairy-tale horses were endowed with wings, which made them similar to mythical birds, and additional epithets “fiery”, “fire-breathing” were awarded to horses with a clear sun or a month in the forehead, with frequent stars on the sides. “Golden-maned”, “golden-tailed” or simply “golden horse” serves as a poetic image of the sun.

In some fairy tales, the hero himself turns into an animal and speaks in an “animal” language. The hero in these fairy tales can become any animal. If the hero himself does not know how to turn into an animal, when he needs it, he puts on the skin of a dog, ram, goat, or bull.

Animal milk also has magical properties: wolf, lion, bear and horse. It gives the hero strength, beauty, youth, that is, it also has the qualities of living water.

Baba Yaga is most often the ruler of animals and birds in Russian fairy tales. One of the facets of her activity is power over animals. Moreover, in this case, she, as the mistress of the forest and animals, helps the hero. Also, in fairy tales, the role of the forest ruler is often played by a grandfather, an old man, or the owner of the forest - the goblin.

Another interesting image in fairy tales is the images of waterfowl - ducks, geese and swans. Often it is a duck, a swan or a goose that marks the sphere of the sacred in the ritual songs of the calendar cycle. For example, geese-swans are associated with another world in the famous Russian folk tale “Geese-Swans”.

In addition, our ancestors often associated the image of swans with the sun. For example, the idea of its movement was presented in the daytime in the form of a team of horses carrying the luminary across the sky, and at night swans acted as charioteers in the underground ocean. They accompanied the Sun God - Dazhdbog. Therefore, the Slavs attributed special power to talismanic amulets in the form of a duck with a horse's head.

The images of geese and white swans are especially widespread in Russian folk wedding songs, where the bride is constantly compared to a “white swan.”

Lybid in East Slavic mythology is a genealogical hero, the sister of three brothers - the ancestors of the Polyan tribe: Kiya, Shchek and Khoriv.

In the Russian fairy tale, the heroic White Swan is the owner of living water and rejuvenating apples, for which the brothers are sent. Her name could have been transformed from the original Lybid under the influence of the mythological motif of the transformation of the hero into a bird.

The legends of the Russian people about swan maidens spoke of their special beauty and power. They personified rainy spring clouds, were considered daughters of the Okiyan Sea, and lived in reservoirs and wells. And having fallen in love with someone, they could accomplish any supernatural task.

Thus, animals surrounded ancient man and were almost never hostile or unpleasant to him. Receiving the most real help and benefit from them in life, in his imagination he endowed them with kindness, nobility, intelligence and power. Faith in their readiness to always come to the rescue helped a person in a difficult struggle with a variety of obstacles that stood in his way.

Bibliography:

Belyakova G. S. Slavic mythology. - M.: Education, 1995.- 239 p.
Propp V.Ya. Historical roots of the Magic Tale. - M.: Labyrinth, 2002. - 332 p.
Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Ancient Rus' and the Slavs. - M.: Nauka., 1978. - 445s.