The main character of Russian fairy tales. Fairy-tale heroes of Russian fairy tales: names and descriptions. Male images: “there are still no shortage of heroes on the Russian land!”

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

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

No one can remember from which region Grandfather Samo came to us. He was on friendly terms with any matter. And he did a lot not for himself, he tried for working people. Especially for those who loved to keep advice. If grandfather comes across such a person, he will definitely mark him. Master Samo also had one more amazing property - he knew how to convey his name to the working tool. Evgeniy Permyak told us about the wonderful grandfather Samo in his fairy tale “About Grandfather Samo.”

The Steadfast Tin Soldier,

Piggy bank,

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

Nightingale the Robber

Fairy-tale heroes starting with the letter T

Tobacco - jackal, constant companion of the tiger Sherkhanfrom the collection of short stories "The Jungle Book"

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

Tikhei Molchanovich

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

Three fat men -

Pumpkin (godfather)

Toropyzhka

Tortilla - a turtle, an inhabitant of the pond, a warm-hearted lady who gave Pinocchio the golden key (a fairy tale by A.N. Tolstoy “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio”)

Tugarin Zmey

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter U

Ukonda - one of the seven underground kings

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

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

Warra - leader of the Flying Monkeys

Urfin Juice

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter F

Beans - the son of the rag picker Beans and friend of Cipollino from the fairy tale by D. Rodari “The Adventures of Cipollino”

Fedora (b grandmother) – big fan of dishes

Fairies are frequent guests of fairy tales, both original and folk.

Finist - clear falcon

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

Foxtrot - Chief of Police from "The Adventures of Pig Funtik"

Freken Bok is a housekeeper with a great culinary talent for baking buns (“The Kid and Carlson Who Lives on the Roof” by Astrid Lindgren)

Funtik

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter X

Khavroshechka is a girl who does not know her mother’s love; her life was spent in worries and work.

Hart from “The Fire God of the Marrans” and “The Yellow Fog” by A. Volkov

Khitrovan Petrovich - from the fairy tale “The Long-Lived Master” by Evgeny Permyak

Hottabych is an old man who can work miracles

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain is a royal and important person. She has her own kingdom, special, precious

Hvasta (hayats)

Lame leg from “The Adventures of Cipollino” by D. Rodari

Piggy

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter C

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

King Bird (aka Firebird)

Tsar Saltan - the hero of the fairy tale by A.S. Pushkin “The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of his glorious and mighty hero Prince Gvidon Saltanovich and of the beautiful Swan Princess”

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

Caesar - from A. Volkov’s fairy tales “Fiery God of the Marrans” and “Yellow Fog”

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter H

Sorcerer - an ordinary sorcerer

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

Bird cherry - doctor from D. Rodari’s fairy tale “The Adventures of Cipollino”

Blueberry - godfather from the fairy tale by D. Rodari “The Adventures of Cipollino”

The Devil (from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs”).

Cipollino is a brave onion boy fromfairy tales by Gianni Rodari “The Adventures of Cipollino”

Cipollone - father Cipollino from the fairy tale by D. Rodari “The Adventures of Cipollino”

The sneezers from Genrikh Sapgir’s fairy tale “Miguns and Schihuns” love to listen to poetry

Wonder bird(from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Wonder Bird”)

Miracle - Yudo

Churidilo from the fairy tale by Genrikh Sapgir is as round-faced as the moon; he has forty arms and forty legs, and even forty blue eyes

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter Sh

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

Shapoklyak is an old woman whoorganizes unkind pranks on harmless city residents

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

The Hatter from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

Chocolate - behemothfrom "The Adventures of Pig Funtik"

Hairpin -artist, living in fairy tales about Dunno by Nikolai Nosov

Syringe -doctor

Shpuntik -master,

Shtuchkin - director , living in fairy tales about Dunno by Nikolai Nosov

Screw -inventor,living in fairy tales about Dunno by Nikolai Nosov

Shushera - a rat from the fairy tale “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio”

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter Ш

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

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

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter E

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

Ellie -the girl is meek, quiet, but knows how to stand up for herselffrom A. Volkov’s fairy tale “The Wizard of the Emerald City”

Elvina - former queen of the Underworld

Elgaro - miner

Elyana - one of the last kings of the Underworld

Elf, elves -

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

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter Y

Yuma - Marrano princess, wife of Prince Torma,fairy-tale heroine from A. Volkov’s book “Fiery God of the Marrans” (series of fairy tales “The Wizard of the Emerald City”)

Yuksi (in Russian means first) is the eldest gosling, he was the first to hatch from the egg, and soon demanded that everyone obey him from fairy tale story Selma Lagerlöf "Nils's Wonderful Journey with the Wild Geese"

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

Fairy-tale characters starting with the letter I

Apple tree - a fabulous tree from the Russian folk tale “Geese and Swans”

Jacob - a boy who traded in the market square with his mother

Fairytale lands...

Brawler - a magical fairy-tale island found in Russian fairy tales and beliefs. This island is considered the navel of the earth, it is located in the middle of the sea-ocean and there are many magical objects on it: a baked ox, crushed garlic in the side, and a sharpened knife; they live on it mythological characters, Christian saints, evil diseases - fever; Alatyr magic stone that heals any wounds and illnesses...Fairytale Buyan also became widely known thanks to Pushkin: on the island of Buyan magical things are stored that help fairy-tale heroes, and a magical oak tree (World Tree) grows. Many folk conspiracies and the spells began with the words: “On the sea on Okiyan, on the island on Buyan lies the white-flammable stone Alatyr.” The sacred stone alatyr in Slavic mythology designated the center of the world.

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

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

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

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

In general, “Lukomorye” in the Old Church Slavonic language means “bend of the sea coast,” and in ancient Russian chronicles this toponym is mentioned not in the Far North, but in the area of ​​​​the Azov and Black Seas and the lower reaches of the Dnieper. The chronicle Lukomorye is one of the habitats of the Polovtsy, who were sometimes called “Lukomorets”. For example, in connection with these regions, Lukomorye is mentioned in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” In “Zadonshchina” in Lukomorye the remnants of Mamai’s army are retreating after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neverland - With According to legend, only children can enter the island, and adults are prohibited from entering here. Although, with pure childish thoughts, it is quite possible to follow Peter Pan's route over the treetops and through caves and end up in a land where Captain Hook, fairies, mermaids and pirates live. They say that James Barry wrote his book under the impression of a trip to Australia, but many also argue that the real prototype of the island “No and Will Not” is Madagascar.

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

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

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

Even in adulthood, people do not forget about fairy tales. Military personnel and officials, businessmen and managers, lawyers and bartenders, builders and auction participants who need free online coin appraisal– everyone wants a little magic. These stories formed the thinking and worldview of many generations. The actions of the main characters showed how to distinguish between good and evil, taught them to be brave and fair.

Usually an elderly woman who knows magic. In most stories this is a negative character. She kidnaps small children and young men to kill and eat. However, in exceptional cases it helps.

In modern ideas, she is the mistress of the forest and the guardian of the borders of “another dimension” (the distant kingdom). That's why she has a bone leg - to stand in the world of the dead. It is worth noting that this heroine is also found in Slovak, Czech, Bulgarian and Serbian legends.

Dragon

It's basically a dragon that breathes fire. Always the personification of evil. Most often kidnapped beautiful girls and keeps them captive (or eats them). In Slavic mythology it is found as “zmok”, “smok” or “serpent”. It is interesting that in some ancient languages ​​the meanings of the words “mountain” and “forest” do not differ, so the hero’s name is Gorynych, that is, “forest”.

Ivan the Fool

Perhaps the most popular fairy-tale hero. This Vanya gets into trouble all the time, but for any problem he has his own original solution. Besides, he is always lucky. It is often possible to obtain wealth and even marry a princess. Some researchers believe that Ivan is called a fool only because he is the third son, who is not entitled to a share of the parental inheritance (hence the ability to think outside the box and find a way out of difficult situations).

Vasilisa the Beautiful (Wise)

The same female image appears under the name of Marya the Princess, Marya Morevna, Elena the Beautiful. The very name “Vasilisa” can be translated from Greek as “royal” (which is why she is sometimes the Tsar Maiden). This girl shows the reader what the main character is like, namely, she tests him. According to Russian folklore researcher Vladimir Propp, her actions reflect the transfer of power from father-in-law to son-in-law through a woman (daughter). Thus, the struggle for the throne between a young guy and an old king is a historical phenomenon. This is why fairy tales say so little about the character of the bride.

IN general outline- a powerful forest spirit. However, it is difficult to assemble a complete image. Either he appears in the form of a living tree, or he turns into an animal, or even an indeterminate anthropomorphic creature. According to legends, the goblin can change his height, voice and appearance. In addition, he can turn invisible and has great physical strength.

Almost always its appearance is accompanied by wind. The attitude towards this character has always been ambivalent. On the one hand, he was considered an evil spirit, and on the other, he was called the owner of the forest, who always acts fairly.

Koschey

A powerful sorcerer, which allows us to call him the prototype of priests. Always angry and rich, languishing over gold with goldadvert.com. Koschey (from the word “bone”) is actually a living skeleton that is almost impossible to kill. Thus, his death is hidden in several magical animals and objects nested within each other.

If you regularly read our blog, you probably remember the post about the creation of a little dog, a character in the mobile game “Evolution”. It was drawn (and the post was written) by the leading artist of the project, Roman Amokrus Papsuev. However, like all talented people, Roman creates not only at work, but also in free time- for the soul. One day he came up with the idea of ​​redrawing well-known characters from Russian fairy tales and epics in a modern fantasy gaming style. The result is a whole series of wonderful pencil drawings, executed with great attention to detail. The novel was not guided by the characters of any specific game; the images turned out to be collective. However, it is better to see a hundred times than to read once.

Welcome to the cut, his story is waiting for you there (also see the second part). Lots of pictures inside!

As a CG artist, I sometimes amuse myself by remembering how to draw with a pencil. I once spent a lot of time on a sketchbook that I called Monsta Panopticum - it was a collection of various monsters, a kind of exercise for the imagination. But the sketchbook ended, but the ideas remained, and then it occurred to me that Slavic mythology and Russian folk tales are full of cool characters, and games based on our legends are one or two out of stock. Since I have been working in game development for quite a long time, I have a fairly good understanding of the basic visual cliches (I may disappoint someone, but I have never played Warhammer, Allods Online, Dota, Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls or even World of Warcraft, which is not prevents me from knowing what they look like).

The idea of ​​the project is this: develop and develop one topic, try to look at it from different angles. It occurred to me that we should try to make our characters, but in the standard modern fantasy game style (you shouldn’t try to identify the specific game that inspired the pictures, everything will be from everywhere).

At first it was just an exercise in imagination, then, when I began to carefully study the primary sources and look at reference literature, the project became much more interesting for me, since it allowed me to interpret “in a playful way” not only the stereotypes that have stuck in everyone’s heads since childhood, but also primary sources are Russian folk tales and epics. You will see for yourself how the descriptions of the pictures vary: the longer the description, the more time I spent studying the sources.

I don’t invent characters, they are all in mythology, I just interpret their descriptions in my own way, try to find common features in these descriptions and at the same time try to maintain a single style so that it looks like the game world.

What makes me most happy is that some people who look at my pictures begin to re-read epic fairy tales, learn a lot of new things for themselves and understand why Vasilisa the Beautiful has a doll in her bag, why Vodyanoy is on a catfish, why Ilya Muromets has a sword in his hands, and not a mace, etc. This return to origins through my modest project pleases me as an author most of all.

I often hear that the characters turned out to be “not Russian”, they say, remove the signatures - and it’s not clear who is where. I would like to say right away that, firstly, I consciously tried to get away from stereotypes and interpretations of individual authors, and secondly, I would like to know where the canon is by which one can determine EXACTLY what Baba Yaga looked like, for example. After all, all we know about the heroes of fairy tales are images from childhood, images given to us by the brilliant Ptushko, Rowe, Vasnetsov, Bilibin. That is, the author's interpretations. So, my pictures are also interpretations, and in a very specific style. Just keep in mind that this project has nothing to do with realism and historical authenticity. And these are fairy tales that have found their way into the world of games. My goal is not to erase our great heritage, but only to try to look at it from a different point of view.

Thank you for making it through the introduction. Now the actual pictures.

Ilya Muromets. I started, of course, with him. By the way, he has a bottle of dead water hanging on his belt to treat his wounds. And with a shield he is quite capable of destroying his enemies. I drew this picture from my head, just based on the types from my childhood, but later, after checking with the sources, I came to the conclusion that I completely fell into the image.

Dobrynya. What is known about him (in parentheses - how I played it out). A relative of the prince (the armor must be rich), the second most popular hero after Ilya (smaller in size, but still cool), a snake fighter (a magical shield, upholstered in fiery dragon skin, shooting fire), a seven-tailed whip, with which he whipped his horse so that trampled baby snakes, and all that. It’s hard to depict diplomatic skills, education and politeness in a picture, but I put a scroll in a tube on his belt, like he’s reading in his spare time. He also has living water, it complements the set of Ilya, who, let me remind you, has dead water on his belt. Well, the sun motif, like Ilya’s, serves one prince.

Popovich. Well, it’s obvious that he should be a witch hunter, right?

A sudden turn slightly to the side, towards Finistu.

It was the girls' turn. I'll start with Vasilisa the Beautiful(not to be confused with Vasilisa the Wise, aka the Frog Princess). A battle mage, there’s nothing to even think about, one skull that incinerates enemies (mentioned in a fairy tale), that’s worth it. And of course, the doll is in the bag, everything is as it should be. A small note: it may not be so clearly visible, but her kokoshnik is made of steel, part of a half-helmet.

Vasilisa the Wise (Frog Princess). It turned out to be not so simple with her. There are already three common versions of the fairy tale (in one of them she is generally called Elena the Beautiful), so I decided to try to collect everything that is known about her into one image. So, witch. He casts spells both with the help of his own power and with the help of nannies (grandmothers, nannies, mothers, etc.). I decided that the nannies would be plump flying fairies in my version. The magic of nanny mothers individually is not that strong, but if they start doing something together, just hold on.

I did not find confirmation in fairy tales that Vasilisa is the daughter of Koshchei the Immortal (although there is such a version, and it is quite logical), so I did not make obvious necromantic paraphernalia. But the Wise One, it seems to me, could also dabble in dark magic, her character is like that... I completely forgot to mention - she has an arrowhead hanging on her chest like a pendant. The same one.

Princess Nesmeyana. First I wanted to make my face open, then I decided to immediately show off the visor mask. Kokoshnik is part of a helmet. Observant viewers will notice the waterskin and horn on her belt. Why? Because due to an eternally bad mood, he constantly drinks alcohol. By the way, when she laughs (and she laughs extremely rarely), it means that she has an attack and she becomes a berserker - a very scary ability.

Marya Morevna. Everything is clear here. The only note is that since the fairy tale indicates that she is a steppe warrior, I slightly added Asian elements.

Varvara-beautiful. Mound Raider. Strictly speaking, this is a movie character; it seems that Varvara the Beauty did not exist in mythology. But, firstly, everyone probably knows Rowe’s film, and secondly, her name is too famous, I couldn’t pass it by. I think it's clear who the reference was. A few comments: the hatchets are attached to the sheath on the hips, amulets-amulets dangle from the belts, the kokoshnik, as always, is metal. When there are a lot of enemies, she attacks by spinning like a top and mows down the enemies (haha). The braid itself may well be made of leather, like a whip, i.e. it is not collected hair, but part of a helmet.

Baba Yaga. V. 1.0.

Koschey. Feeds on the souls of victims. I also drew this one, based on stamps from my head, then I carefully studied the sources and came to the conclusion that I would change Koshchei’s head. So later there will be Koschey Mark 2. :)

Nightingale the Robber. Part one. Upper. I'll have to explain some things. In fairy tales, the Nightingale sits on nine oak trees, sits high, looks far away, whistles like a nightingale, screams like an animal. I thought for a long time about how to play it all out (“sitting on nine oak trees” was the biggest problem - a giant, or what? Or are the oak trees small?), in the end I came to the conclusion that the Nightingale would be a monster rider. He will ride on an oak tree. His scream-whistle is a sonic weapon. A whistle is a targeted blow, a scream is a wave with a wide range of action. He will also have a magical staff to control the oak tree. And notice the acorn necklace around his neck. It is not without reason, it is a solution to the problem with nine oaks. Yes, many have strange associations with his mouth, I advise you to go to the mirror and try to make “chicken lips” - you will be surprised. :)

Nightingale the Robber. Part two. Riding on an oak tree. In general, he lives in a tree, this is his storage and fortress. Chests (trophies) and shields are hung on the branches, which move if something threatens the Nightingale. The oak tree also has chains with hooks, with which it pulls the victim towards itself in order to eat it.

The oak tree moves both like a spider and like a centipede, that is, it supports the trunk with large branches and finely moves with its roots. It moves slowly, but if it gets there, screw the hero. Now about the problem of nine oaks. Acorns are magical. When Nightingale throws one acorn on the ground, an oak minion quickly grows from there, ground support, so to speak. I drew one of them on the left. They are faster and more aggressive than the fortress oak. They run up to the hero and hit him. There are eight acorns on the necklace plus the fortress oak, for a total of nine. Oaks themselves are pretty creepy trees, but when nine oaks plus a Nightingale with his sonic weapon are moving towards the hero, the hero should feel uncomfortable.

Yes, and the scale here is a little arbitrary (otherwise it wouldn’t fit), but roughly guide yourself by the skulls on the branch, these are the skulls of adults. That is, the Nightingale is slightly larger ordinary person. Yes, and in the picture he just screams like an animal.

Tugarin Zmey. This is probably the last picture where I use complex frames - they take too much time, the characters are more important, so then the frames will be very conventional.

Lesovik. Owner of the forest. I will separate the forest spirits, this one is the most important. He is, in principle, kind, but stern and fair, if anything happens, he can punish harshly.

Visually, I decided to start from zooanthropomorphic descriptions, with elements of phytoanthropomorphy; for each forest spirit I will choose the main animal and will dance from it.

Goblin. I tried to embody in this handsome man the main thing that is known about goblin in the generally accepted (and most importantly - evil) sense. Leshy's character, to put it mildly, is not very pleasant. One eye is normal (left), the right one is usually larger than the left and “dead”, motionless. The beard and hair are gray. They often write about a cone-shaped head, in my interpretation - because of the hair collected in a bun. He wraps his clothes to the left and wears them inside out (it turned out not so easy to show with a pencil that it was the wrong side). The arms and legs are covered with fur. In some versions of the legends it is belted, in others it is necessarily not. On the belt hang trophies and essential things: the skulls of defeated lost and impolite travelers, a horn for drinking, and bast shoes, because my Leshy just likes bast shoes, he collects them. In the legends, the classic Leshy also has some kind of fixation on bast shoes. But considering that he is often described as having hooves, the question is how did he wear them? The logical answer is that he did not wear them on his feet, he simply carried them around with him as souvenirs.

As for the general appearance, the justifications are as follows.

• Firstly, legends indicate that Leshy often appears in a zooanthropomorphic form, in particular in the form of a bear. There is a saying: “The goblin is not his brother - he will break all the bones no worse than a bear.”
• Secondly, there are beliefs that he goes into hibernation (preved, bear).
• Thirdly, which animal is considered the most ferocious and personifies Russian nature?
• Fourthly, as friends from LiveJournal suggested to me - according to many researchers (in particular, Dmitry Zelenin), Leshy can be considered the personification of Veles, whose basic hypostasis is just a bear.

Since he is still a forest spirit, I also added phytomotives. Leshy are often associated with aspens (aspen trees seem to indicate demonicity), so he is hung with the leaves of this tree. On the chest hang the cut cores of magical aspen trees, in the center of which magical stones grow (this is a fairy tale, let me remind you). These cuts on the chest are the magical protection of Leshy. Well, the roots and branches hold the skin on the shoulders.

And finally, he has woodpecker skulls hanging from him. Since Leshy has a violent and bad temper and at the same time he loves to sleep, he is terribly annoyed by the knocking woodpeckers. That's why he destroys them. Well, he exterminates rats simply because they are rats. Leshy is afraid of their bare tails. On this basis, the Leshis often quarrel with the Lesoviks. Although they are relatives, they are, in fact, Greenpeace members and, in general, protect any forest life. And Leshy believe that some forest dwellers disgusting and must give.

Swampman. A vile creature living in the swamps pretends to be a hummock and eats everyone. Throws “swamp lights” from the bracelet to paralyze the victim. Poisonous.

P.S. I would also like to add a decoy, like that of an angler fish. The decoy is long, telescopic, in fact a symbiote, i.e. a separate creature, lures and hypnotizes travelers, leading them straight into the quagmire to the Bolotnik.

Spirits of the forest. Part 1. It was impractical to draw a separate picture for each small spirit of the forest, so I decided to divide them into groups. All these guys are Lesovik’s retinue. I tried to do it according to the descriptions that I could find, but it was not without arbitrariness.

Vodyanik, for example, is like one of the names of Vodyanoy. But I decided that small ponds, streams and small rivers should also have their own spirits, so I singled out the name “Vodyanik” into a separate group of small spirits. All forest spirits are quite neutral, but if you anger them, they can attack.

The most aggressive of this group is Mokhovik; according to legend, he could eat children, if anything.

Berryberry, for all its outward harmlessness, can also cause damage (with poisoned berries).

Derevyanik - combined Derevyanik and Kornevik in one character - stupid, awkward, but quite strong, he can entangle himself with roots and drink the juices from the victim with them.

Spirits of the forest. Part 2. Mushroom picker, Leaf picker, Herbal picker, Kustin. I call this picture “Russula is late for the meeting.” Concluding the topic of forest spirits and Lesovik’s retinue, let’s quickly go over the characters and abilities.

The mushroom picker is not a very kind character (in mythology mushrooms are generally not very popular, there is a lot about genitals and excrement), not very strong, but very tenacious and touchy (he believes that people slander him). Can infect offenders with rapidly growing fungi. His dream is to conquer the whole world.

The herbalist is a hippie. In case of danger, he can fool the offender and even kill him if he gets very angry.

Leaflet (combined with Steblevik, so as not to produce entities) - the most harmless of all, usually acts as a support group for Derevyanik and Kustin, giving them additional strength and protection.

Kustin (Kushchanik) is Derevyanik’s younger brother, they are very similar in character and usually work in pairs. Kustin can remotely entwine the offender with branches, paralyzing him.

Vodyanoi on catfish. For this picture, I will simply list the main characteristics with explanations of why this is so, and we’ll talk about the details of Vodyanoy’s character in the next picture. I’ll say right away: I tried to incorporate into the image everything that the Internet knows about Vodyanoy, while at the same time offering some of my own solutions. Please, immediately forget the song of Vodyanoy from “The Flying Ship”. So, let's go.

It is known that Vodyanoy is a fat old man with big belly(done), he is often seen in a red shirt (for me it’s chain mail made of scarlet gold), he has a thick beard and a green mustache (here I cheated and made him a CATFISH mustache, part of the beard is also a catfish’s stubble, hence the greenish color). Among the northern peoples of Russia, Vodyanoy is often represented with a club. In general, Vodyanoy is a serious evil spirit, and his character is very bad (quote: “The embodiment of the element of water as a negative and dangerous principle”). And the main quote for the picture, from which, in fact, the image itself was born. “He is credited with catfish as his favorite fish, which he rides on and which brings him drowned people. For this reason, the catfish is popularly called the “devil’s horse.” This is where the idea of ​​making a mount boss came to mind. Since Vodyanoy is sometimes seen on land, I made the catfish not quite a catfish. In fact, there is a whole mix of animals (they all live quite well in Russia, by the way), whoever identifies them all has a pie.

I paid special attention to the harness, harness and saddle; I had to use my imagination, of course, but fighting pack catfish do not exist in nature, so I apologize if anything happens. This is not the last picture of Vodyanoy: here he is too small and the details are not visible, so I will make him separately, as I did Nightingale.

Vodyanoy and Vodyanitsa. Sorry for the many letters, but it's necessary. I present to your attention a family photo, because of which I spent a sleepless night at work, I was so overwhelmed. Let's start with Vodyanitsa, because new character. There is very little information about Vodyanitsa (where to put the emphasis, I prefer to put on and); it is known that she is NOT a mermaid, she is dressed in a torn sundress, she has big breasts, she’s a prankster, but on the whole she doesn’t offend anyone much, that is, she’s quite positive character. I painted her wearing a magpie (the headdress of married women) to emphasize her marital status. And this character also has a key feature that really stuck with me. “Vodyanitsa is a drowned woman from the baptized, and therefore does not belong to the undead.” Do you understand, right? The baptized drowned woman is the wife of Vodyanoy, who is actually an evil spirit (undead). There is a huge scope for imagination, of course. And this is what I imagined.

As I wrote earlier, Vodyanoy has an extremely bad character. He seems to be neutral, but with a greater bias towards evil. He constantly needs to be cajoled, otherwise he will play dirty tricks, and drown, and wave his club. However, he can provide a catch and save, if anything - and in my version, all his good deeds are directly related to Vodyanitsa. Since his wife is essentially kind, but young, mischievous and foolish, she plays with the old man as she wants. And she often forces her hubby to do good deeds, although this contradicts his unclean nature. And vice versa, when they quarrel, Vodyanoy goes on a hike and rages even more, letting off steam. Vodyanitsa herself is not particularly visible to people, and in my interpretation she is not even a separate character, but simply an addition to the image of Vodyany. She buffs (increases the strength) of the Vodyanoy when she yells at him.

Now a little about the images themselves.

All river spirits in Slavic mythology are distinguished by a passion for combing their hair (all of them must have long and flowing hair). Vodyanitsa is no exception. In one of the sources I saw that she combs her hair with fish bones, but I decided to give her a cool comb (hanging on her belt). This is a gift from the Sea King, a distant relative of Vodyanoy (Bolotnik, by the way, is also a relative, but feral, “there’s a black mark in the family,” as they say). Vodyanitsa's hair is green, she herself is very pale. Her jewelry is mostly pearls and all sorts of things with shell and water motifs. On the belt, in addition to the comb, there are amulets, but they do not affect Vodyanoy, because he is a husband. The merman does not object to amulets (he even hangs all sorts of moonlights on his fighting catfish), but he does not wear them himself, because he sincerely believes that he does not need them and he does not care at all.

More about Vodyanoy. As I mentioned, he has chain mail made of scarlet gold, underneath it is a shirt made of nets, a shell plate to protect his stomach, well, you can see for yourself. But he took off his shoulder pads because he was at home. He has a whip on his side, because he “grazes herds of his cows - catfish, carp, bream and other fish - at the bottom of rivers and lakes.” He has short legs because he usually rides a catfish, and they are not particularly developed. I would especially like to mention the “crown”. The merman is also described as having a horn on his head; I replaced the horn with a crown - in the form of catfish probes sticking out of his head.

As for Vodyanoy’s abilities, he draws his strength, of course, from water and from the screams of his wife. He is a boss mount (meaning he is very tough and rides a horse), and together with the fighting catfish they make a formidable fighting unit. The merman uses mostly brute force, and can magically summon only lower water spirits (akin to Kelpies from Celtic mythology) - stupid, but aggressive. There may be other magical abilities, but I haven't thought about them yet.

What a sweet couple they turned out to be. In general they have happy marriage, live and live, make good. Not without quarrels and swearing, of course. But it’s the same for everyone, probably, right?

Sister Alyonushka, brother Ivanushka

Another sweet couple. I understand that I shock many people with this picture, but before you judge, please re-read the fairy tale. However, I will briefly explain everything to you. There are several key points in the fairy tale (in its many iterations) that are the same for all versions. So, the facts:

1. Ivanushka became a little goat.
2. Alyonushka was drowned.
3. In almost all versions there is a “fierce snake” that sucked out Alyonushka’s heart (and there is also a “heavy stone” on her neck, “a white fish ate her eyes out”, “yellow sands lay on her chest”, “silk grass on her hands”, ashes, decay, hopelessness, that's all).
4. There is a witch-witch who organized this whole drowning mess.
5. They took Alyonushka out of the river, “dipped her, rinsed her in clean water, they wrapped it in white linen, and it became even better than it was.”
6. In all versions of the fairy tale, where Ivanushka turned into a little goat, he remained one. Well, you understand what I mean, right?

Ten years have passed. The little goat has grown up...

He became her bodyguard and instrument of brute force. Both characters are creatures tied to magic. Both are generally positive and on the side of good, but they do not hesitate to use black magic, unlike Popovich, who is all correct. They are professionals of the highest standard, merciless with evil spirits, unsurpassed masters of close combat: Ivanushka takes with force, Alyonushka with dexterity. Ivanushka is generally as strong as a bull (ha-ha), so he carries all of his and his sister’s belongings, plus a huge hammer, which he naively calls the “Hammer of the Witches.” Ivanushka has complexes about his appearance and can kill if someone suddenly calls him an asshole.

Now for the images. The idea of ​​a little girl and a big companion is not new; in the same Juggernaut we have Una, for example. Here this scheme simply suggested itself. So it turned out like this. Well, some details, just for information.

Alyonushka:
- the wreath is woven from water lilies (in fact, a drowned woman), poppy (a flower against witches), leaves and branches of aspen (a magic tree);
- a cross on the neck - protection of the immortal soul. The fairy tale did not say whether Alyonushka was baptized, I believe that she was baptized;
- Witches are afraid of all piercing and cutting weapons, including scythes. Alyonushka has a damask scythe-sickle, created specifically for fighting evil spirits;
- Alyonushka’s costume is partially and very loosely based on the clothing of the Krivichi and Drevlyans;
- on the belt hang the necessary things against witches - a bottle of spring water (a bonus for the one who tells you why spring water), a bag of poppy seeds, obligatory amulets and a bag with all sorts of things. Well, half-drowned women also love combs.

Ivanushka:
- in addition to a two-handed war hammer, he carries with him a large damask knife on his side (one of those with which they wanted to stab him), a cleaver strapped to the “backpack”, and an aspen stake in the same place. Not a peg, as usual with everyone (for the same Popovich), but a really hefty stake. Can string several unclean enemies onto him at once;
- all his armor is painted with the sign of witch hunters, so that it is immediately clear who he is and why he came;
- on his belt dangles a tooth, torn out from the first werewolf he killed (his skin is on his shoulders), and the collarbone of the very witch who drowned Alyonushka;
- bells-amulets hang on the shoulder pads;
- well, in the end, before you say that goats only have two horns, google “goat with four horns”, you will see everything for yourself, I was also surprised by the variety of genetic mutations.

Now about the runes. I was not lazy and nevertheless compiled my “dictionary of runes”. They, of course, are fictitious, based on Scandinavian and those scribbles that he dug up in the pre-Christian writing of the Slavs. Moreover, I came up with the meanings of the runes myself, without really looking at the real ones. My version, my runes, I move whatever I want. There will be an additional game for the audience - reading what the characters have written on their clothes. And here are the runes themselves:

I also have

We were all little once, and we all read Russian fairy tales. Reading these fairy tales, we had a figurative idea of ​​all the characters, about Vodyanoy, Baba Yaga, Koshchei the Immortal, Ivan Tsarevich, Alyonushka, Varvara Kras, and many more. Fairy tales taught us to recognize good and evil. In every story the heroes can be distinguished between good and bad traits. And every main character contains certain meaning. For example:
1. Ivan Tsarevich is one of the most important heroes of Russian folk tales. Usually in a fairy tale he is shown as a positive hero. His characteristic qualities are kindness, honesty and nobility. In every fairy tale, Ivan helps people, saves a princess or defeats an enemy. Ivan teaches every person to listen to his heart, and if something bad happens, not to lose heart.
2. A frequently mentioned hero from fairy tales is the Snow Maiden. She appears to readers as tender, vulnerable, and purely soulful. The Snow Maiden embodies all the most best qualities that every woman should have. The Snow Maiden always has unusual beauty in fairy tales. She teaches us that everything that is not done from the heart will not succeed, and also that we should not stop at any difficulties. If you want something, you need to strive for it, and then everything will work out.
3. But our children like not only positive heroes, but also negative ones. For example, Baba Yaga is admired by many. This character is involved in almost every fairy tale. Baba Yaga lives in a large dark forest in a small hut on chicken legs. In order for the hut to turn around and open its doors, you need to say to it: hut, hut, turn your back to the forest, and turn your front to me. And then the hut will definitely turn around and open its doors. Old Yaga is an old friend of Koshchei the Immortal; they sometimes make insidious plans together. But, the main thing distinguishing feature Baba Yaga is that she flies in a mortar and on a broom. Baba Yaga symbolizes treacherous people who do everything out of the blue. Children remember Baba Yaga as a grandmother in a mortar with a large bent nose.
4. Koschey the Immortal is the most sinister hero of Russian folk tales. He lives in splendid isolation in a castle. He is also very rich and greedy. But the most main feature Koshchei is that it is not so easy to kill him. His death is hidden in a crystal casket, in an egg. If you take a needle that is hidden in an egg and break it into two parts, then the cat will die. Koschey the Immortal is an image of evil, treacherous and bad people. Looking at him, we see that everyone who loves money very much quickly perishes.
5. A merman is a male creature that lives in a swamp. He is a good owner and takes good care of his possessions. But if you offend him, he can take cruel revenge. The fishermen who fished in the reservoirs, so that Vodyanoy would not disturb them, they cajoled him. People brought various treats to the water, and in gratitude for this, Vodyanoy did not tear their fishing nets and did not scare the fish. The merman symbolizes people who are ready not to notice anything bad if they give him something for it. This is a negative character and should not be repeated after him.
6. Dwarves - they live underground, working in the mines. They are very hardworking. But they also have a negative trait: gnomes are too greedy for gold. They are ready to do anything for him. People who love money more than anything in the world are prototypes of gnomes.
7. Brownie is a creature that lives in every home. Usually the Housekeeper is the keeper of cleanliness and comfort in the house. People believed that if a brownie lived in a house, then it would always be clean and comfortable. The brownie is an image of economic and ambitious people.
8. Serpent Gorynych is the negative hero of Russian folk tales. He has either three, or nine, or twelve heads. As a rule, the Serpent Gorynych spews out flames. As he flies, thunder roars and the earth shakes. In fairy tales, the Serpent Gorynych stole girls and burned cities and villages with his fire. The Serpent Gorynych symbolizes bad people who are ready to do anything to achieve their goal.
All heroes in Russian folk tales contain great meaning. There are, just as there are negative ones, there are also positive heroes. To understand what kind of hero is in a fairy tale, you need to understand and analyze him. Since fairy tales are very useful, they should be read to children; they will help in shaping their vision of the world.

Rashitova Gulnaz Samatovna

5th year student, Faculty of Foreign Languages, MarSU, Russian Federation, Yoshkar-Ola

Astankova Tatyana Petrovna

scientific supervisor, Ph.D. philologist. Sciences, Associate Professor MarSU, Russian Federation, Yoshkar-Ola

In linguistics, every year there is an increasing interest in folk and literary works, in particular fairy tales, from the point of view of a gender approach as an opportunity for a comprehensive study of the reflection in language of the role of man, the realities of society and interpersonal relationships. Many researchers (G.G. Slyshkin, M.L. Boloneva and others) studied the representation of the concepts “man” and “woman” in literary and folklore works of Russian and foreign literature. In their works, they note that most fairy tales were written down at a time when the patriarchal approach dominated society, culture and the literary canon, so the image of women was invisible, and the works emphasized her dependent position. Only in fairy tales of the 20th century, with the growth of the feminist movement, determined and brave heroines began to appear, who took on the role of a man in saving the rest of the characters. Research shows that the image of women in literature has now changed: the stereotype that leadership belongs to a man is now applied to a woman, which is confirmed by the “expansion of the relatively stable canons of fairy tales.”

Fairy tales are a reflection of reality, therefore, through the analysis of fairy tales, you can get a picture of the world through the eyes of the inhabitants of that time, learn about their way of life, ideas and rules of behavior that prevailed in society. Fairy tales give us the opportunity to more clearly imagine the images of men and women, emphasizing their main features and character traits. When getting to know a work and its characters, the reader is guided by the stereotypes he has developed, therefore, when the main characters are called a man or a woman, he has already formulated an external image and a certain model of behavior for them.

We carried out a comparative analysis of the images of men and women in fairy tales of the British Isles. 35 fairy tales were analyzed.

Here is a list of nominees that designate men and women in the analyzed fairy tales.

Nominees for men: “a man”, “a fellow”, “a boy”, “a friend”, “a lad””, “a gentleman”, “a marn” (dialect pronunciation of the word “a man”), “ a mate”, “a chap”, “a chep” (dialect pronunciation of the word “a chap”), “a feller” (dialect pronunciation of the word “a fellow”), “a youth”, “a gaffer” (colloquial word, meaning “old man”), “a roisterer” (a word that gives a negative characteristic of a character; meaning “reveler”). The heroes of fairy tales can also be magical creatures, so one of the nominees was the word “a merryman” (“merman”).

Nominees for women: “a woman”, “a gentlewoman”, “a maid” (“maiden”), “a maidy” (found in colloquial style, formed from the word “a maid” using the diminutive suffix “y” ), “a maiden”, “a female”, “a dame”, “a lass”, “a girl”, “Aunt”, “a lady”, “a gal” (dialect pronunciation of the word “a girl”), “a witch.” The heroines of fairy tales can be magical creatures, so there are such designations for mermaids as “a merrymaid”, “a creature”, “a sea-woman”.

It is worth pointing out that the fairy tales we analyzed were written at a time when the basis of society was a patriarchal system, therefore the main characters in most cases were men, and women either played minor role, or were not mentioned at all in the fairy tale.

However, the variety in the means of appeal to both men and women is the same. Men are characterized by the words “a friend”, “a chap”, “a fellow”, which emphasize their simplicity and friendly attitude towards each other. A man appears in a negative image less often than in a positive one, but in some cases he is presented in the image of a rogue (“a roisterer”) who loves to drink, or a stupid peasant who is easy to outwit (the fairy tale “The Mare’s Egg”).

The woman is depicted as a simple peasant woman whose main concern is her family. Men often address young girls affectionately, using certain lexemes (“a lass”, “a maid”) and adding diminutive suffixes (“a maidy”) to words. Respect for age and love of others can be emphasized by calling “Aunt” (“auntie”).

Since fairy tales reflect the realities of a certain time and record the way of life and customs, they constantly emphasize the importance of such a value orientation as family. Almost all fairy tale characters, both men and women, are married and have two or three children. Sometimes fairy tales are about lonely old women (the tale “The Tulip Pixies”) or about women who have lost their husbands and continue to care for their children (as in the tales “The Lady of Llyn and Fan Fach”, “The Boogies an' the Salt-box” ). Young men are also represented in fairy tales as married: if initially they live with their parents, at the end of the fairy tale they meet a girl whom they later marry (the fairy tale “A Pottle o’ Brains”). This, however, is not always typical for a young girl: she can remain alone even after meeting her lover (the fairy tale “Cherry of Zennor”).

In the analyzed fairy tales, the role of women as keepers of the hearth is repeatedly emphasized, so the occupation and abilities they possess come down to the ability to care for the family and run a household: they garden, and their diligence and love of work are emphasized (“She tendered the garden with special care” - about an elderly woman in the fairy tale “The Tulip Pixies”), work as housewives (fairy tales “Jan Coo”, “Cherry of Tennor”), nannies for the children of the owners (fairy tale “The Sweating Fairies”) or serve in their homes as a maid or housekeeper (fairy tales “Cherry of Zennor”, ​​“Cap o'Rushes”, “The Lancashire Witches”). Fairy tales mention the special magical abilities that witches possess (“knew a charm to make de fairisees come”, “dealt in potions an’ herbs an’ spells an’ things”). They can use them for good, help people with advice, or act as a doctor.

Men provide for their families, mostly by farming (shepherding) or fishing. Less frequently mentioned are the professions of shoemaker, forester, miller, priest, doctor, merchant, cook, and military man. The professional abilities of men are manifested in their ability to manage a household: they are characterized as “skillful” and “a wonder with the sheep.”

The heroes of fairy tales are men of all ages, and each age period corresponds to a certain characteristic: young (“young”, “youthful”), adults (age is indicated: “thirty years of old”) and elderly (“old”; sometimes extreme old age is emphasized by epithets “ancient”, “out-and-out old”). Boys and young men, as a rule, have an attractive appearance (“handsome”, “powerful”, “with brilliant and piercing eyes”, “eyes are bright”). The appearance of older people emphasizes their wisdom and years (“white-haired”, “bald”, “his face was shrunk like a long-kept apple and covered with small wrinkles that ran together like cracks in rock”). The appearance of magical creatures (elves, gnomes) is also described in fairy tales: their main characteristic is short stature(“little”, “tiniest wee specimen of humanity imaginable”).

The age of the women ranges from young (“young”) to old (“old”). Most girls have ordinary appearance. The description of these characters emphasizes their youth and strength (“lusty” meaning “strong,” “strong,” “healthy”). In rare cases, a girl appears in the form of a beauty (“handsome”, “as sweet as a rose” in the fairy tale “Cherry of Zennor”). Only magical creatures have true beauty: mermaids (“fair”, “golden-coloured hair that shines like sunbeams”, “eyes shine like the brightest of stars on a gloomy night”, “the most beautiful creature that mortal eyes could behold”) , ghosts (“lovely”, 'pretty”), witches (“beautiful”). Despite their beauty, girls appear to men in a sad way (“full of woe unutterable”), since they are unhappy in marriage (fairy tale “Lutey and the Merrymaid”) or were abandoned by lovers (the fairy tale “The Boggart of Hellen Pot”). The beauty possessed by magical creatures, especially mermaids, often causes trouble for fishermen and peasants who fall in love with them and decide to either follow them (the tale of Lutey and the Merrymaid) or marry them (the tale of The Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach”), but their lives are tragic. When describing older women, their age is emphasized and adjectives with negative connotations (“dry-boned”, “ugly-looking”) are used.

The main character traits of men correspond to the canonical ideas of a patriarchal society: they are brave and strong, able to withstand adversity (“hedger”, “bold as a lion”, “did not fear man nor devil”). Male peasants are endowed positive characteristics: kindness, compassion, willingness to help and love for your family, honesty (“kind”, “friendly”, “loving”, “tender-hearted”, “didn’t like anyone to be in trouble”, “honest”, “ willingly gave aid free to those too poor”, “nursed the twins with great care and tenderness”). They oppose magical creatures that have negative characteristics (“sly”, “cunning”) and constantly interfere in the lives of ordinary people. Peasants are contrasted with people of high social status, and they are often presented as domineering and cruel (“cruel and wicked”, “tyrant”, as in the fairy tale “The Sunken City of Llyn Bala”), which emphasizes the severity of the problem of social inequality for that time. Elderly people are depicted as stern, distrustful people whose opinions are difficult to change (“stern”, “stubborn”, “disbelieving”).

Almost all men have high intelligence and are able to outsmart female magical creatures (“knowledgeable”, “wise”, “as wise as owls”, “particularly clever”). Sometimes men are described as the smartest people in the world and yet find themselves in a difficult situation and cannot solve it. In this case, a satirical effect is created, since they are not spoken of as stupid people, but, on the contrary, their wisdom and intelligence are emphasized (the fairy tale “The Mare’s Egg”). Young people can also be characterized as dependent on their mothers (“foolish”, “no more fit to look after thysel’ than an’ unborn babby” in the fairy tale “A Pottle o’ Brains”).

The young girls are described as cheerful, loved by family and society. Fairy tales emphasize their youth, carefreeness and curiosity (“full of frolic and mischief”, “curious”, “nice”, “courageous”). Married women are characterized as loving and caring mothers, dependent on their husbands (“good”, “nursed the twins with great care and tenderness”, “did not like to leave her children by themselves in their cradle, even for a minute”). Sometimes female characters are not meek, but brave and cunning women. In the fairy tale “Mary Who Were Afraid O’Nothing,” the main character spends the night in a crypt, meets a ghost and deceives him and the owner of the house, gaining the owners’ wealth. She is spoken of as the bravest in the settlement (“afraid o’ nothin’ that’s alive nor dead”), although her husband perceives her as a weak woman. While young girls and women are characterized positively, older heroines are portrayed as ill-tempered.

Female characters, unlike male ones, rarely have high intelligence. Girls are portrayed as naive, and women have to turn to the sage for help (the fairy tale “Egg-shell Pottage”). Older women and witches may be endowed with wisdom and knowledge, which they use for personal gain, deceiving men (the tale “A Pottle o’ Brains”) or beings endowed with supernatural power (the tale “How Oud Polly Gorst Cum Agin”).

Since the tales of the British Isles that we analyzed are classic, they describe the way of life of ordinary people who were engaged in farming, raising livestock, fishing and had no education, therefore the speech of the heroes is unique and corresponds to the level of education of people living at that time. The characters' speech is characterized by abbreviations, omissions of words and functional particles, and grammatical errors. It should also be noted the peculiarities in the pronunciation of the characters due to their origin.

The speech of men of all ages is characterized by the use of large quantity interjections (“pah”, “ess”, “wall”, “wela”, “wbwb”, “dare me”, “o lorks”, “weel”). In male speech there are colloquialisms and vulgarisms that are not found in female speech (“you ugly brute”, “ye druffen rascal”, “thou cock-eyed raggamaffin”). Phonetic features of male speech include the loss of vowels and consonants at the beginning and end of words (“doan ’ ee know ’ tis mortal unlucky”, “what dis here ol’ fellow's got under ’ is arm", " ’ er must ’ a bin mistook”) and incorrect pronunciation of the ending “ing” in verb forms(“there’s someone calling n’ ”).

It is worth noting some dialectal features of the speech of characters in fairy tales: for the western part (dialectal pronunciation of words (“a mistook”), special forms of Participle I endings, as in the sentence “I should be with marrimaids drinkan rum or huntan sharks”), for southeastern (replacement of sounds (for example, [ð] goes into [d] in “did you hear dat"), more open pronunciation of the vowel (as in the interjection “yes” - “ yahs"), disappearance of the nasal sound (for example, in “good marnin’ ”)), for the central part (special pronunciation of the pronoun “one”, disappearance of the nasal sound (as in the phrase “ unclickin toad”), special pronunciation of the interjection “no” - “ nay"), for East Anglia (more closed vowel sound in the verb "to have" (as in "she likes to hev"), for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (loss of sounds (for example: “as this ma’ es me t’ scrat"). From this point of view, there are no differences in the speech of men and women. Dialectisms are found in the speech of all fairy tale heroes.

However, when comparing the speech of men and women, it becomes noticeable that men have a larger number of speech errors, especially in grammar: incorrect use of a linking verb (“I aim’ t the least bit frightened”, “if them ’ m ready to learn”), incorrect form of pronoun (“ us had better let’n bide”), double negative (“dere aren't’ tno fairisees”, “all de staff in your shop can’ t do me no good”), errors in conditional sentences (“I am, if you willdirect me”), incorrect verb form (“I havebroke my peel’”). Also, the speech of men is characterized by the use of elliptical sentences (“Dat so?”). The speech of kings and priests is correct, there are no abbreviations, omissions, or colloquial words often found in the speech of uneducated people (the fairy tales “Cherry of Zennor” and “A cure for a Fairy”).

In the speech of men, obsolete forms of the verbs “to be”, “to have” and the pronouns “you” (“ef” are used thee art my old woman, thee hast had a narrow escape, I can tell thee, of being left as bad as a widow”), which are not found in women’s speech. The speech of older people is characterized by syntactic features such as inversion. It is usually used in the speech of kings (“ Sobeit. I shall not oppose you”). This adds solemnity and emphasizes the significance of what is happening.

When comparing the speech of men and women, a more frequent use of stylistic devices is noted in the speech of men: comparisons are often found in it (“he'd lick 'em up like a toad licking flies off a stone”, “I shall grant you as dowry as many cows” , sheep, goats, pigs and horses as she can count in a single breath”), epithets (“a whippie Tam”) and phraseological units (“as sure as a gun”, “I’m sick as a toad of it”, “As bold as brass”).

In the speech of women, stylistic devices are practically not found. The exception is the speech of women with high social status, for example, princesses (the use of simile to express love: “I love you as fresh meat loves salt” in the fairy tale “Cap o’ Rushes”). Women's speech differs from men's in the smaller use of interjections, most often found in the speech of older women (“ess”, “ah”, “aye”, “lor”, “lork”, “laws, no”) and the absence of vulgarisms. The pronunciation of women, like the pronunciation of men, has dialectal features, and is characterized by the loss of sounds, vowels and consonants, at the beginning of a word (“I’ll ate ’ um”) and in endings (“They be lulli n’ their babies to sleep. If the l i'l dears b 'a int a-kissi n' their babies 'f ore they pick 'n up"). Dialectal features of pronunciation are found in the speech of adult women (voicing of sounds, special pronunciation of the pronoun “one”, replacement of sounds, as, for example, in “I run vor salt-box and drowed a handvul at un», « noo agin", "so I tuk it”) and in the speech of most older women (dropout of the sound [l] in “she was not the owdest widdy”, special pronunciation of pronouns and non-standard forms of modal verbs (for example: “ yew musent bring a light"), voicing of consonants, lengthening of vowels, a special form of the verb in Participle II, as in “what sooart ov a nest-egg I'd getten”).

Women, unlike men, have more grammatically correct speech, so mistakes are rare: for example, the wrong form of a pronoun (“leave” they kegs”), errors in the formation of the superlative adjective (“the beautifullest lady”), incorrect form of auxiliary verb (“that don’ t signify"). Similar errors in to a greater extent inherent in the speech of older people.

Thus, in the tales of the British Isles, the most common hero is a male peasant, engaged in cattle breeding, farming or fishing. His main task is to provide for his family. From time to time he finds himself in a difficult situation, but his courage, kindness and strength help him find a solution. A man, unlike a woman, seems to be an intelligent, knowledgeable person, while only older women or witches can be wise women. Not much attention is paid to describing the appearance of men, while female beauty, especially magical creatures, is constantly noted by men, often using stylistic means.

In fairy tales, images of characters are created by describing their appearance, but by the speech of the characters one can also judge the character, origin, degree of education, social status and age of the characters. In the speech of men, colloquialisms, grammatical errors, and dialect pronunciation are more common. This is not observed in people with high social status. The speech of women, compared to the speech of men, is more literate, there are no vulgarisms in it, and mistakes are mainly found among people of the older generation.

Women are less likely to become heroines of fairy tales, and the most common image is that of a peasant woman acting as the keeper of the family hearth. The description of the woman’s image emphasizes her role as a mother. A woman’s activities are also related to housekeeping, and outside the home she usually works as a nanny, housekeeper or maid. Women more often than men turn out to be mystical creatures who use their powers to harm people.

Our research allows us to conclude that the analyzed fairy tales trace the ideas of the patriarchal way of life in a society where the leading role was assigned to the man, and the woman was in a dependent position. In accordance with the ideas of society, the images of men and women were created in the fairy tales of the British Isles.

Bibliography:

1. Boloneva M.L. Concepts of woman and man in the discourse of a fairy tale // Bulletin of the Irkutsk State Technical University. - 2014. - No. 2. - P. 41-48.
2. Folk tales of the British Isles: collection / comp. J. Riordan. M.: Raduga, 1987. - 368 p.
3. Slyshkin G.G. Gender concept sphere of modern Russian anecdote // Gender as an intrigue of knowledge. Almanac. Pilot episode. - 2002. - P. 66-72.