LITERATURE OF THE COSSACK CLUB SKARB

FAIRY TALES, EPICS, EPICS

BRIEF ANALYSIS OF FAIRY TALES

(analysis examples)

Chicken Ryaba

In the fairy tale, Grandfather and Baba cannot break the golden egg; when a mouse breaks it, they begin to cry. In world symbolism, an egg means peace, and a golden egg means the golden age of humanity or Paradise. People often called their ancestors, in particular Adam and Eve, Grandfather and Baba. Adam and Eve, being in Paradise, could not use the main gift of God - free will, directly related to the soul. It is known that in order for the process to proceed, a potential difference, an inclination on the plane, an anode and cathode for electric current, acid and alkali in chemistry, etc. are needed. In this case, in the biblical legend, such a difference in potential is created by a snake associated with the lower world, and in a fairy tale, a mouse, in some cases a witch. The exodus from Paradise is associated with the crying of Adam and Eve, and Grandfather and Baba also cry. How does Ryaba Hen console them? She offers to lay a simple egg, but a person is like the world, he is a microcosm according to ancient and medieval ideas. In other words, to create a “personal paradise”, the appropriate behavior necessary for the salvation of the soul that will go to Paradise is proposed. This refers to the basic idea of ​​Christianity and almost all religions. The chicken itself is defined as “ryaba”, i.e. containing white and black feathers, in other words, it is a container of good and evil at the same time. For a better understanding of this allegory, we point out that in medieval scholasticism in the philosophical and religious dispute about “the primacy of the chicken or the egg,” the chicken was understood as God, and the world as the egg. We can say that this Russian fairy tale conveys in twenty seconds the main basic truths of the philosophy of the New and Old Testaments.

At the behest of the pike

The hero is a typical trickster who denies social norms, doesn’t really work (he says “reluctantly”), drives out the general, talks harshly to the king. Such characters appear in world folklore during periods of social tension and transition from one type of government to another. From the fairy tale it is clear that when attacked by a foreign army, the army was defeated. Emelya copes with the enemy. His strength is based on the help of a pike, which he caught and released back into the water. According to Russian symbolism Pike, one of the symbols of the most ancient ancestor, the image of a pike or its jaws was worn as a talisman. In other words, Emelya is helped by the power of her ancestors, the power of folk tradition, which seeks, through a person who denies current social norms, to establish new ones that are necessary in the current situation.

Teremok

In the fairy tale, completely different animals ask to live in a mansion. According to a folk tale, a teremok is a horse's head. Animals: mouse Noryshka – an underground dweller; frog Kvakushka - a resident of the underwater world; the hare is a “dodge on the mountain”, associated with the hole, the lower world, but also with the mountains; fox – “jumping everywhere” – a symbol of cunning; wolf - “grabbing from behind the bushes.” However, the bear - “I’m crushing everyone!” the iconic ancestor of the Slavs and the fairy tale itself indicates that not everything is compatible in one house.

It is important that the horse and its head are associated with solar symbolism, and sometimes with the symbolism of a happy, “sunny” world. The head is occupied by representatives of the lower underground and underwater world - a frog and a mouse. In addition to them, three animal characters, by their self-names, resemble representatives of hostile peoples. In this case, it is clear why the bear, the symbol of the first ancestor, crushes them. This indicates that excessive tolerance and tolerance for everything foreign can destroy our home - Terem - Teremok.

Kolobok

The bun can be considered as a symbol of the created world, where the woman and grandfather are the Creator gods. He leaves the hare - a symbol of speed, the wolf - a symbol of courage and pressure, the bear - a symbol of strength, but he is deceived and destroyed by a fox - a symbol of cunning, deceit and deceit. The point is that the qualities of a fox are the most dangerous and can destroy not only a person, but the whole world.

Morozko

The fairy tale is characterized by an episode of Alyonushka Morozka’s triple test. In folklore, three frosts are known: Red nose frost - invigoration, redness of the skin, frost Blue nose - the beginning of frostbite, bluish skin, frost White or Bone nose - frostbite and death. Accordingly, they correspond to the upper heavenly, earthly middle and lower dead worlds. Alyonushka passes all three tests and does not complain; to the question “is the girl warm for you?”, she answers: “Morozushka is warm.” Having undergone ritual death, she receives a reward: a dowry and a handsome groom. Her sister, who could not pass the test of fortitude and patience, is punished. The meaning of the fairy tale is the need to endure all types of trials, even mortal danger, and a reward will follow.

turnip

In a fairy tale, the turnip itself can be understood either as the world or as a complex and important task for life. If the grandfather and woman are perceived as ancestors, then together with the granddaughter this is a change of generations, their connection, human society. society itself can be perceived as a kind of horizontal. The animals involved in the process of pulling out turnips: the dog Bug, the Cat, the Mouse were often correlated with the three-member division of the world. The upper world is a dog or a wolf, as companions of the heavenly gods. Note that among peasants, the wolf was not used until the 19th century. was considered as the dog of St. George, which he sends on sinners as punishment. The cat is connected with the earthly world and even the house, and the mouse, like a burrowing animal, is connected with the underground. The idea of ​​a fairy tale is that in the unity of generations and turning to all the forces of the world, heavenly, earthly and underground, it is possible to accomplish any task, even an impossible one. There is strength in unity. In this case, such unity is perhaps personified by the cross, which was a sacred symbol among many peoples, long before the adoption of Christianity.

Little Humpbacked Horse

In the fairy tale, an evil, greedy, lustful king rules, and Ivan carries out his instructions. The appearance of the old king corresponds to his inner essence. Ivan is unpretentious on the outside, but kind and honest on the inside. As a result, after bathing in a cauldron of boiling water, the Tsar dies, and Ivan is revived as a Tsarevich, acquires a correspondence between his internal and external appearance, and marries the Tsar Maiden. The fact is that the cauldron has symbolized rebirth and rebirth since ancient times; it was even placed in graves. IN Greek myth Medea turns an old ram into a young lamb in a cauldron. We are talking about the inevitability of karmic retribution, which will bring into harmony the inner essence of a person, his appearance and destiny.

Sword Kladenets.

Our ancestors knew that like is destroyed by like. All sympathetic and love magic is based on this principle. The influence on an image, photograph, influence on parts of the body is considered in magic as an influence on oneself. Let us give the most famous examples of such a worldview in folk tradition: A wolfclaw or werewolf is destroyed with a silver bullet, since silver is considered the metal of the Moon, and wolfclaws have always been associated with the Moon, especially with the full moon. The skeletal Koshchei the Immortal of Russian fairy tales can only be killed by breaking a needle or bone, which is some kind of him. In Indo-European, and in any other fairy tales, the hero first looks for a treasure sword or some other magical weapon, and then defeats a snake, dragon, giant, usually a chthonic creature. This weapon is most often hidden in a cave or dungeon and belongs to a chthonic creature. The symbolism is that any issues must be resolved in the language and methods of the person you are dealing with.

Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf.

Ivan Tsarevich in the fairy tale does not show any special positive qualities. On the contrary, he is characterized by stupidity and greed, since he disobeys the wolf and grabs first the golden cage, and then the bridle, which is why he almost dies. In addition, the wolf warns him that he cannot boast of success in front of his brothers, he boasts, and as a result they kill him, appropriating the Firebird, the Horse, and the Princess. The wolf's motivation to help the prince is completely absent, although in some versions of the tale the wolf seems to feel sorry for the prince, since he ate his horse. However, no one forced the prince to go to the wolf, since he read on the stone “if you go to the right, you will lose your horse.” The stupid behavior of the prince, who not only violates the instructions of the wolf, but also the fact that he constantly “cries”, since he is sorry to leave , then with a horse, he can piss off anyone. The question arises: “Why does the wolf help the stupid and greedy prince, and not his older brothers?”

The symbolism of the wolf is associated with hereditary royal power. Let us remember the Persian king Cyrus, Romulus and Remus - the founders of Rome, the grandfather of Genghis Khan and many other legendary and historical kings, who, according to legend, were suckled by a she-wolf. Even the Russian epic Prince Volga turns into a wolf, which other heroes never do. The wolf, as a defender of royal power, cannot help the “future fratricides” - the brothers of Ivan Tsarevich. He chooses “the lesser of two evils.”

Sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka.

(content analysis)

Let's consider the fairy tale about sister Alyonushka and her brother Ivanushka based on a comparative analysis with the myths and legends of various Indo-European peoples. The fairy tale begins: “Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen; they had a son and a daughter. The son’s name was Ivanushka, and the daughter’s name was Alyonushka. So the king and queen died; the children were left alone and went to wander around the world.” Why did the parents die overnight? This is not said. War, pestilence, disease are not mentioned. The children themselves are alive and well. It is completely incomprehensible who allowed children to walk around the world alone, especially since these are royal children. Even stray and abandoned children were not abandoned like that, they were raised and cared for. Somehow all this is mentioned in passing, the Tsar’s children are empty-handed, wandering somewhere alone. If they ran away from their enemies, why aren’t they caught? The legitimate heirs of the king are a tasty prey for any invader. It’s not clear what they should do alone in this world? Did the Tsar’s family really not have a single friend or ally?

And that was apparently the case. Kings were chosen from different tribes and peoples to rule. The king identified the luck of the people and the fertility of the land. It was believed that if he had no children, lean years became more frequent, or enemy raids prevailed, the king and queen, as bearers of failure, could be sacrificed to those gods whom they angered, in the opinion of the priests and people. In the Novgorod epic "Sadko", Sadko himself, as the leader of the merchants, was the first to be thrown as a sacrifice to the King of the Sea during a storm. It is he who is acceptable, as the most expensive and valuable thing that a clan, tribe, kingdom, caravan of merchants can give to the gods, in the name of general well-being.

Since ancient times, there has been a custom in Rus' to kill, and at a later time, to expel princes, “kings” in Russian fairy tales, who are not pleasing to the gods. Let us at least remember that even Alexander Nevsky was expelled from Novgorod several times by the Novgorod people's assembly - the Veche, despite his previous merits. So, the only intelligible explanation for the wanderings of the tsar’s children - Alyonushka and Ivanushka, throughout the “wide world”, will be that their parents - the tsar and queen, for sins or for an unsuccessful reign that was unhappy for the people, were sacrificed to the gods, and children, as blood carriers of failure, were simply expelled. They felt sorry for them. By the way, not everyone agreed with such pity.

Let's list the possible sins of parents:

1) Disrespect for ancestors, for their covenants. Violation of a funeral rite that provides the opportunity for rebirth or rebirth of ancestors. The witch's desire to kill Ivanushka the goat in the text of the fairy tale indirectly points to the custom of sacrificing a goat to ease the path of ancestors to the afterlife. The goat was also used as an atonement sacrifice, including for the sins of ancestors. The goat replaced, in this case, the most ancient human sacrifice. As an example, the biblical “goat of scapegoat” (Leviticus 16, 9 - 10).

2) Insulting the underground, underwater, chthonic gods. The goat was dedicated to them too.

3) Intervention in the battle of the thunder god and chthonic forces. Disrespect for Thunderman or these forces.

Let us assume that the plot of the fairy tale was created during the period of matriarchy, then most likely the second option took place, as well as the first, in terms of disrespect for the covenants of the ancestors. This follows from the fact that matriarchy relied primarily on chthonic gods and goddesses associated with the “Mother Raw Earth.” Veles was such a god among the Slavs. During the transition to patriarchy, the heavenly gods, including Perun, come first. These are warrior male gods. The change in the social system could not but affect the mythological preferences of the Slavs. The transfer of power in the community to the male part could not take place peacefully everywhere. The transformation of Ivanushka into a little goat is, to some extent, a mockery of Perun, since the king’s son, the heir to the throne, is turned into a sacrificial animal of the underground gods, Perun’s opponents. Kings or princes and their children, by their very position and origin, are dedicated to Perun. In some special cases, a goat can be a sacrificial animal and a thunderbird, but the witch priestess insists on the rite of slaughter of Ivanushka the Little Goat, therefore, the sacrifice cannot be intended for Perun. The priests of Perun were exclusively men. We know that the king is resisting this sacrifice in every possible way and is stalling for time. Although he, as a king, whom Perun especially patronizes, sacrifice to Perun should be useful. This means that this sacrifice did not relate to the king’s circle of interests, rather the opposite. At that time, people were not distinguished by sentimentality, and, if necessary, they sacrificed anyone and anything to the gods. Let us recall the classic biblical example of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac, simply because “God commanded it.” It seems that the ancient Slavs had no fewer such “commands of God” than the ancient Jews.

In the fairy tale we read that Ivanushka was constantly thirsty because of the heat. This indicates that the summer is too hot, destroying crops, and first of all, pastures for livestock. In the tale, crops and grains are not mentioned, but various livestock are listed in detail. Ivanushka wants to get drunk from places where different traditions livestock grazes. It is listed in the following sequence: 1) horses 2) cows 3) sheep 4) pigs 5) goats (1 option). 1) cows 2) horses 3) sheep (2 varieties). 1) horses 2) cows 3) sheep 4) goats (3 varieties). The most stable sequence: 1) horses 2) cows 3) sheep 4) goats. We can see the same sequence of animals on the golden pectoral of the Scythian nomads (IV century BC), found in the Tolstaya Mogila mound near the city of Ordzhonikidze, Dnepropetrovsk region. On it, two men are stretching a sheep's skin, and behind them in both directions are depicted: a horse, a cow, a sheep, a goat. In the Indian Upanishads, the sequence of sacrificial animals is given in the same order: horse, cow, sheep, goat. Let's look briefly at this sequence.

Among these animals, it was the goat that was the atoning sacrifice to the underground gods and at the same time a guide to the underworld. The horse could be a conductor, but just like the bull, it correlates with solar symbolism. Sheep and rams are a frequent sacrifice to the spirits of ancestors, but not to the chthonic gods.

Let us note that in most texts Ivanushka wanted to drink water from a hoof. “We were still walking, walking, there was a cow’s hoof. “Sister, sister, I’m thirsty!” - “No, don’t drink, you’ll be a bull,” or “Walking, walking, there was a sheep’s hoof...”, etc. Another option: “We walked and walked - the sun is high, the well is far away, the heat is oppressive, sweat appears! A cow's hoof is full of water." The question arises, why is it said about a hoof? In ancient magical beliefs, including Slavic ones, it is known that the trace of an animal helps transform a werewolf into this animal. Among all peoples, the influence on a trace or shadow was used in magical rituals to influence a person or animal. For example, to break the mark of a sorcerer with a nail meant to pierce his legs. To throw a stone at the reflection or image of a person - to harm a person. Signs associated with the mirror - the carrier of the reflection - have ancient magical roots - to grief or death. mirror. According to ancient beliefs: the soul of the person looking into it, partly, is in the reflection of the mirror, and therefore suffers damage when this mirror is broken. Mirrors are still curtained when a dead person lies in the house, so that his reflection and himself through this reflection. did not harm living relatives, did not take their souls with them to the afterlife. Images of animals with traces of ritual influence were found in the most ancient Neolithic caves. Damaging or striking an image is a blow to its prototype. Our ancestors believed that a footprint is an important part of a person or animal. This is his manifestation in the world, the most obvious interaction with him. A living being interacting with something, especially with the mother of everything - the Earth, opens up, and therefore, it is easiest to influence it through a trace, shadow, reflection in water. Modern conspiracies in photographs are of the same order. Many peoples still believe that when photographing, the photographer takes their soul. In the animal world, for example, in a herd of zebras, antelopes, etc. , if a male wants to show his superiority and challenge the leader of the herd to a duel, he urinates on the mark of the leader’s hoof. Even our domestic cats, when they are not happy with their owner and want to show their dominance in the house, shit on the bed or favorite resting place of the one they want to “put in their place.”

It follows that the very fact of Ivanushka drinking or influencing the trail - the “hoof” of a goat, filled with water, indicates that he takes on the role of a goat, moreover, not just a goat, but a kind of “goat king”. Drinking from someone else's footprint establishes his superiority over other goats. Alyonushka didn’t notice him and “Rock” happened, i.e. he became exactly the sacrificial animal he should have become, getting rid of the evil lot of his parents. The fact of drinking from a trace is also an introduction to the bearer of the trace, a sharing of fate with it. It is important to point out that if Ivanushka became the goat, and not Alyonushka, then we are talking about the period of patriarchy or the transitional period from matriarchy to patriarchy. The inheritance, in our case the evil share of the parents, is passed on male line from father to son. Consequently, it was the king who committed the offense, not the queen. This offense is not an ordinary streak of misfortune; one king would have been punished for this. Something terrible was done, for which the queen was punished as an accomplice.

At the end of the fairy tale, usually the enchanted hero takes on his former appearance. In our case, this is not the case. Alyonushka comes to life and becomes a queen, and Ivanushka in only one version, out of the five considered, turns into a human. Apparently, they believed in the magic of the “hoof” and in responsibility for the sins of the father. Redemption goes through the male line, this indicates patriarchy, but the temporary death of Alyonushka, her initiation into the queen through this death, speaks, rather, of a transitional period from matriarchy to patriarchy.

Let's consider what happens in the plot of the fairy tale after Ivanushka turns into a little goat. Quite unexpectedly, Alyonushka and Ivanushka are met by “the same king.” In a number of variants, the little goat himself leads Alyonushka to the king’s garden. This is a very interesting point. Before Ivanushka turned into a goat, he didn’t know where they were going and why, but then he immediately brought his sister to the palace. It seems that it was no coincidence that he came there, and his qualities as a guide somehow immediately appeared. Let us remember the qualities of the goat as a guide, including to the kingdom of death. He led both himself and his sister to death. The tragedy of the situation is emphasized by the presence of the sea near the palace, which, in popular belief, has always been associated with the world of death and the chthonic gods.

The fairy tale about this new feature of Ivanushka simply says: “The little goat ran and ran and once ran into the garden of a certain king.” Some versions speak of a gentleman passing by, but these are obviously later versions. For example, in the Lithuanian fairy tale, an analogue of the Russian “Orphan Elinite and Jonukas the Lamb,” it also says: “In the evening we approached the royal palace. We were afraid to go into the courtyard, the dogs were barking angry there, she climbed onto a haystack, dragged the lamb with her and fell asleep ".

Let's return to the gift of a guide that appeared in Ivanushka the goat. Goats are used as leaders of the sheep flock. Sheep are blind, but a goat will find its way both to pasture and home. So Ivanushka the goat found the way to the king’s palace. In ancient Indian tradition, the sacrifice of a goat was intended for the fire god Agni. Agni is a divine priest, he carries out the sacrifices of people for their intended purpose. The goat, as a sacrifice, escorted the souls of people to their place of refuge. We can conclude that the option with the appearance of fairy tale heroes in the king’s palace is the most archaic. Moreover, it has semantic analogues in the ancient Indian Upanishads, which consider the goat as a sacrificial animal, serving as a conductor of victims and the souls of ancestors and dedicated to the afterlife.

Let's consider the Lithuanian version of this tale. The Lithuanian version is older than the version with the master, but it is also secondary. In it, the narrator constantly tries to explain many of the dark places found in Russian fairy tales. For example, it is not the outdated concept “hoof” that is used, but the phrase: hoof mark. If in the Russian version one can only guess about the motive of the witch drowning Alyonushka, then the Lithuanian fairy tale directly says: “And a witch lived nearby. She really wanted the king to marry her. She envied Elenita and decided to destroy her.” The difficult to understand moment in the Russian fairy tale, when the dead Alyonushka talks to her brother, and her body is eaten by fish and snakes, in the Lithuanian version it sounds simplified: “But Elenite did not drown, but turned into a goldfish.” Here you can feel the influence of the Karelian-Finnish epic. One of the Kalevalla songs talks about the beautiful Aina, who does not want to marry an old man; she drowns herself, but does not die, but turns into a goldfish. The idea of ​​the transformation of drowned women into fish was common among the Finns, Karelians and Lithuanians; the Slavs believed that drowned women turned into a type of mermaid. The Lithuanian listener understood Alyonushka’s shapeshifting into a fish and back more clearly than the speech of the drowned woman:

1) “Ivanushka - brother! The fierce snake sucked out my heart!”

2) “Oh, my brother Ivanushka! The heavy stone rubbed his neck, the silken grass curled up on his arms, the yellow sand lay on his chest.”

3) “Heavy is the stone that pulls to the bottom, the white fish has eaten out the eyes, the fierceness of the snake

"Sucked out the heart, the silken grass tangled the legs."

The listener can perceive Alyonushka’s transformations with the help of magic and higher powers, but without explanation it is not clear to him how an almost decomposed drowned woman can speak, and after the king took her out of the water, suddenly comes to life and becomes the same Alyonushka. In such cases, usually, fairy tales provide for the use of living and dead water. In the case of transformation into a goldfish, the situation is clearer and more familiar. If Jovanas has already turned into a lamb, why not Elenita turn into a fish? In the Lithuanian retelling, one can clearly feel the sound mind of the reteller, who is not familiar with the ancient rituals of the Slavs.

Let's move on to the question of Alyonushka's further fate after her appearance in the Tsar's palace. In all versions of the tale, except for the “meaningful” Lithuanian one, the king’s sudden love for Alyonushka is indicated. In the fairy tale tradition, this is a common occurrence, but in our case, falling in love appears after asking who she is and finding out that she is the king’s daughter. Our assumption that the fairy tale was composed during the period of transition from matriarchy or female priestly management to patriarchy - male hereditary management, finds indirect confirmation. According to the content of the fairy tale, Alyonushka and Ivanushka walked around the “white world” for one day or a little more than that. They could not walk more than thirty kilometers. Most likely, they wandered around the kingdom of their late parents. The young king, who accepted Alyonushka as his wife, despite the decision to expel her, is the new head of the tribe. In Rus' there was a tradition of inviting the prince from outside (“inviting the Varangians”), which is precisely why this king could not know Alyonushka by sight, and he needed to establish hereditary succession of power. He marries the daughter of the previous king. This practice existed as in the times Kievan Rus, and right up to the Moscow kingdom. After such a hasty marriage, a witch suddenly appears in the fairy tale, sending damage and illness to Alyonushka, then drowning her in the sea and taking her place as the king’s wife. Everything about this situation is strange. In the Lithuanian retelling, the motivation for the witch’s action is given: she wanted to marry the king. In the Russian version this is not specified. The replacement itself is very strange.

The events described occur in the following order: Alyonushka falls ill, and her “loving” husband, as if nothing had happened, goes hunting every day. Psychologically, this is the same as if someone today, with a very, perhaps fatally, sick young wife, without even trying to find a means to cure her, went out to a restaurant every day. It is difficult to call such a husband loving. It is not known where the passion disappeared overnight, which, according to the fairy tale, forced the king to marry Alyonushka so hastily. Further in the text, the sick queen, without any escort, alone, on the advice of the witch, goes to the sea for treatment. Neither the king nor his associates interfere with her. One feels that the Tsar Alyonushka, as a person, is indifferent. Now let's briefly look at Alyonushka's appearance. The fairy tale doesn't say a word about this. This is the strangest thing. In all Russian fairy tales that talk about female characters, especially in cases where the conversation is about marriage, the unusual beauty or ugliness of the bride is indicated. If in our fairy tale they are silent about this, then the king’s love has nothing to do with it; what is important is not Alyonushka herself, but his political calculation, the political situation itself. Further in the story, the drowned woman Alyonushka is replaced by a witch. She either simply changes into her dress, or turns into her. The king does not notice anything. It is difficult to imagine a situation where a young husband in love cannot distinguish between a substitute wife. One can, of course, assume that the witch has the power of hypnosis. It may very well be, but when Alyonushka comes to life, the witch’s supposed hypnosis does not even help her escape from the palace.

Events apparently unfolded as follows. The new young leader - the king of the tribe, decided, following the example of his unlucky predecessor, who sacrificed the father of Alyonushka and Ivanushka, to throw off the female priestly guardianship. Having a clear example of the fate of his predecessor, he wanted to strengthen his position. He married the daughter of the late king, thereby introducing succession by kinship. The priestesses of the tribe could not arrange such an option for losing their power. They insist that Alyonushka is the bearer of an evil fate and the curse of her parents. She, Alyonushka, could be regarded as an evil witch who bewitched the king. According to a common European tradition recorded in the Middle Ages, a woman was tied up and thrown into water to determine whether she was a witch or not. If a woman drowned, then she was not a witch; if she swam up, then the witch and she could have been burned alive. This is indicated by the Novgorod 1st Chronicle, p. 65. In Pskov, such autodaffes were produced until the 15th century. In 1411, "The Pskovites burned 12 prophetic women." Pskov Chronicles (M., 1955, vol. 2, p. 36). Or a mention in the chronicle: “In the summer of 6735 (1227). That same summer, there were four sorcerers who created their works (witchcraft). And God knows! And they were brought together in the Yaroslavl courtyard.” In the event that the king did not share his plans with by his entourage, and he most likely did not do this, such a precocious bride could well be considered a witch. Replacing the king's wife is a renewal of the old traditions of matriarchy. The wife must be or be considered a priestess. A similar custom has been recorded among many Indo-European peoples in ancient times, it lasted the longest, apparently, among the Etruscans. Ivanushka suffered from the fact that his parents, who died so unexpectedly, according to the text of the fairy tale, wanted to disrupt the procedure for electing the king and declared him, Ivanushka, the hereditary ruler. He became a slaughter goat to appease the angry spirits of his ancestors and gods.

The custom of inheritance through a wife has ancient roots. As a possible plot parallel, let us consider the ancient Het myth about the snake - the dragon Illuyanka. Its summary is as follows. Illuyanka defeated the thunder god in a duel and stole his heart and eyes. To take revenge, the defeated thunder god marries the man's daughter. From her he has a son. His son marries the daughter of the serpent Illuyanka and, entering his father-in-law’s house, asks for himself (on his father’s advice) the heart and eyes of the thunder god. He has the right to them as the closest, through his wife, heir to the serpent. After the return of his eyes and heart, the god of thunder restores his appearance and enters into a new battle with Illuyanka. In this battle, he kills the serpent and his son, who is standing next to the serpent. The son tells his father not to spare him. The episode with the death of my son is easily explained. Among the Indo-Aryan peoples, including the Hittites, a wife or husband who entered the house of their spouse became blood relatives there. The son of the thunder god, having betrayed his blood relative, the snake Illuyanka, thereby committed the greatest sin. There is no forgiveness for him. The fact that he did it for his father does not matter. His father himself punishes him for his forced betrayal. If the plot of our fairy tale arose in equally archaic times, then the attitude towards Alyonushka, as having passed into the family, the clan of her husband - the king, should have been similar. By her very appearance she violated the priestly matriarchal structure of power. The king became not just an invited mercenary, but the family heir of the previous king, i.e. power “de facto” became hereditary. Let's remember historical examples from the history of Rus', when kinship through a wife gave the rights of a blood relative. This is the brother of the mother of Prince Vladimir, who baptized Rus', Dobrynya. Vladimir's mother, Malusha, was a commoner and worked as a housekeeper for Vladimir's father, Svyatoslav. Her brother was also a simple warrior. The important thing is that Vladimir made Dobrynya his “right hand”, even the governor in Novgorod. This was done to the detriment of the well-born paternal relatives. At a later time, Catherine the Great ruled Russia on the grounds that she was the widow of Tsar Peter the Third. Boris Godunov became the Russian autocrat on the grounds that his daughter was married to Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich. Dozens of examples can be given about the role of spouses’ kinship in government in Rus'. What is important for us is that Alyonushka, having become the wife of the Tsar, acquired, in addition to the hereditary right to power through her parents, also the right to power through her husband. This position made her a dangerous competitor to any persons wishing to influence the king and his decisions. In addition, she seemed to take responsibility for both her parents and her husband, the king.

But to whom and why did the witch throw Alyonushka into the sea? Why didn’t she die there and was even able to talk to her brother?

Let's return to the Hittite myth about Illuyanka. The serpent Illuyanka is the personification of chthonic forces. He steals the thunder god's heart and eyes. In one of the versions of our fairy tale, Alyonushka, in response to Ivanushka’s request to come out of the sea to him, says that “a white fish ate his eyes, a fierce snake sucked out his heart.” White fish or “whitefish”, in various versions of the epic about Sadko, is the name of the wife of the Sea King. Academician Rybakov B.A. in “Paganism of Ancient Rus'” proves the identity of the Sea King and the god of the Volkhov River and Lake Ilmen - the Lizard. Rybakov shows that Sadko’s meeting with Sea King takes place near Volosovaya (Velesovaya) street in Novgorod. This already indicates the possible identity of the Lizard and Veles. According to ancient legends, the Lizard has another name - Volkh.

“The great son of this prince Sloven, Volkhov, the displeasing and sorcerer, then became cruel to people, and with demonic tricks and dreams, creating and transforming into the image of a fierce beast, the korkodel, and lying in that Volkhov river, the waterway. " - we read in the chronicle.

We are interested in the name Volkhov. God Veles was also called Volos, the epithets hairy and hairy are synonyms. The word "hairy" is older. This means we can conclude that the Sea King - Lizard appears in the epic about Sadko under his real name Volkh or Volokh, the transition of the sound “X” to the sound “S” in the words “hairy” - “hairy”, provides the basis for the same transition in words "hair" - "volokh".

It is important for us that Volkh, whose father is a fierce snake (Veles or Lizard), has the ability of a werewolf. Werewolves have always been classified as chthonic forces; Veles himself had the ability to become a werewolf. This follows, at least from his many incarnations, including in the form of a person. The name Volkh Vseslavovich also connects the hero of the epic with a werewolf - the son of Prince Sloven, Corcodile-Volkh, whom Rybakov associates with the Lizard of the Volkhov River.

It is interesting that at the birth of Volkh Vseslavyevich from the epic of the same name, natural disasters occur. This is how it should be at the birth of the son of the god Veles or his incarnation. It is interesting that the impact of the birth of Volkh occurs on the moon - the antithesis of the sun, on the blue sea and on the sway of the earth, i.e. on those natural objects to which the chthonic serpent - Volos is directly related. The animals and birds that Volkh can transform into are clearly of a solar nature. The tour was attributed to Veles after the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. The falcon (remember the fairy tale “Finist the clear falcon”), the wolf, the tour into which Volkh Vseslavich turned - point to the sunny, kind side of Veles. He is on this earth to fertilize it. It is no coincidence that the epic ends with the fact that, having conquered the Indian kingdom, Volkh leaves alive only three thousand girls for his squad, and then distributes the gold. The kindness of Volkh-Veles is somewhat bloody and peculiar, but at that cruel time this was the norm.

We have established that the serpent of the Het myth, the Sea King in the epic "Sadko", the Lizard and the god Veles are one and the same serpentine mythological character. Illuyanka takes away the heart and eyes of the thunder god. In a Russian fairy tale, these same organs are taken away from Alyonushka by a snake and his white fish wife. The heart in mythology was perceived as the center of vitality, soul, and physical strength of a character. The eyes, in addition to the function of orientation in the world, had the following function: losing an eye means illness or death of children. This means that Alyonushka, in addition to her personal power, was deprived of the opportunity to have offspring. Illuyanka is the main opponent of the Thunderer. If Alyonushka was subjected to the same punishment as the Hittite thunderer, then she is equated with the main enemies of the chthonic god Veles. Veles's opponent is Perun. Alyonushka, as a royal daughter and queen, and as we said, a woman of great importance in the structure of the kingdom, undoubtedly belonged to the authority of Perun, as the patron of the royal-princely family power. The ancient Hittite myth, or rather the laws for the creation of this myth, was comprehended by the Slavs in a similar, but specific Slavic situation. To determine the mythological character for whom the sacrifice of Alyonushka and the goat Ivanushka is intended, we must pay attention to the ancient chthonic gods of the times of matriarchy. The witch-priestess herself sacrifices one of the victims, Alyonushka, and insists on the other, a goat, Ivanushka. Of the female Slavic gods known to us, this could be Makosh. She is the goddess of fate and earthly fertility, but they did not sacrifice a goat to her. A sacrificial woman, in our case Alyonushka, is not pleasing to her and would be an insult to her. Most likely this is Veles. Veles is a bestial god, associated with the fertility of the earth, he is the enemy of Perun, the patron saint of warriors and men. The sacrifice of Alyonushka and Ivanushka to Veles is both the punishment of the ambitious king and the final deliverance from the sins of Alyonushka’s parents, and the restoration of the foundations of matriarchy.

According to ancient ideas, Veles could be represented in the form of a snake. The Novgorod chthonic, snake-like Yasha the Lizard could be a hypostasis of the same Veles. The lizard was sacrificed, “given as wives” - girls, as B. A. Rybakov points out in “Paganism of Ancient Rus'”. But Alyonushka was not thrown into the water as a wife to the chthonic god. Alyonushka, while married, lost her virginity and therefore was not fit to be God’s wife. They drowned her to remove the curse from the tribe for violating tribal laws and for political reasons. Alyonushka’s repeated phrase: “The fierce snake sucked out my heart” indicates her sacrifice, specifically to the snake-like Veles, or another similar character. It is the heart, as the bearer of a person’s soul, his strength, that pleases God. Let us remember the bloody rituals of the Mayan Indians with the tearing out of the victim’s heart.

The following reasoning also speaks for Veles’ candidacy. Also Propp V.Ya. in the book "Russian Agrarian Holidays" (pp. 47 - 48). found that Ivanushka’s complaint:

“Alyonushka, my sister! Swim to the shore: The fires are burning, the cauldrons are boiling, the damask knives are sharpening, they want to kill me!”

"Beyond the fast river. There are dense forests, Great fires are burning, There are benches around the lights, The benches are oak, On those benches are good fellows, Good fellows, beautiful maidens. The carols sing songs. In the middle of them an old man sits, He sharpens his A damask knife. The cauldron is boiling with fuel. There is a goat standing near the cauldron - They want to slaughter the goat..."

Academician Rybakov B.A. in “Paganism of Ancient Rus'” writes: “... the Slavic Lizard, who married a drowned girl, corresponds to Hades, the god of the underworld, the husband of Persephone. And the sacrifice was made not by these seasonal forces themselves, but by a constantly existing ruler all underground - underwater forces that promote fertility, i.e. Lizard, Hades, Poseidon." Rybakov B.A. further suggests that Alyonushka is Kupala. “Alyonushka is Kupala herself, a victim doomed to become “drowned in water.” We cannot agree with this statement. Firstly, it is precisely established that the sacrifice of a goat was made on Kolyada. Secondly, on Kupala, the doll of Morena is the personification of moisture, Drowning was extremely rare. What kind of ritual murder could there be if, as during the “Shemyakinov trial”, throwing a pike into the water was also a sin before God, especially if it was intended for him, God? The mistake apparently occurred for the following reason: according to the common European custom, evil witches were thrown into the water. If the all-cleansing water (remember the baptism ceremony) was accepted by a woman, then she, the drowned woman, was pure before God and people. The Night of Kupala has been considered since ancient times. on a night of rampant evil spirits and various sorcerers and witches. Apparently, therefore, in order to protect themselves, on this night they drowned women suspected of black witchcraft. Over time, when such arbitrariness began to be persecuted and punished by the state, this custom was gradually mixed with the ritual. ritual burning of Morena. We talked about the holiday of Kolyada. On this winter holiday, a goat mask was required, special cookies were baked - kozulki - and distributed to caroling youth. In addition to the previously mentioned song they sang:

"Seto, seto for the new summer! Where the horse's tail is, There's the bush's life. Where the goat's horn is, There's a stack of hay"... or: "The goat jumped along the block, along the block. Tausen, tausen"... etc .

The ritual of burning Badnyak was associated with Kalyada. This happened most often among the southern Slavs. In “Myths of the Peoples of the World” we read: “Badnyak is associated (according to etymological research) with the image of a serpent at the roots of a tree. The burning of Badnyak at the end of the old year is equivalent, therefore, to the defeat by fire of the serpent, the embodiment of the lower world, a harmful principle and a sign of the beginning of a new seasonal cycle, guarantees fertility, etc." We see that at the holiday of Kolyada there is both the chthonic world and the snake, as well as a connection with goat symbolism and the sacrifice of a goat. In the case of our fairy tale, there is also a chthonic world in the form of the sea in which Alyonushka is drowned. Alyonushka’s phrase: “A fierce snake sucked out my heart,” indicates the presence of a snake, the sacrifice of Ivanushka the goat, again corresponds to the holiday of Kalyada.

Veles is associated with the Kalyada holiday as the master of the underground and underwater world. Veles has many faces. He is the incarnation of the ancient serpent, associated with the bear - the owner of the forest, and one of his incarnations is a goat. A typical custom is to hit the burning image of Badnyak with a stick and see how many sparks rise into the air. The more sparks there are with such a strike, the greater the offspring of livestock expected. Veles is the “cattle god”; the attitude towards the offspring of cattle, both Badnyak and Veles, once again indicates their connection and even identity.

The symbolism and songs of Kalyada are associated with the goat, the holiday of the winter solstice - Kalyada, is dedicated to Veles, which means the simplest conclusion: the goat is a hypostasis of Veles. Veles has Indo-European relatives: the Asia Minor Dionysus, associated with fertility and embodied in a goat, as well as the Greek and Roman Selenes, satyrs, the god Pan, who are associated with fertility and have goat legs. His distant relative is the Egyptian Osiris. These characters are chthonic in nature, their festivals are similar in rituals and are associated with riots and noisy games. The southern Slavs preferred the serpentine image of Veles under the name Badnyak, the eastern Slavs celebrated the same holiday, but preferred to honor Veles in the form of a goat. For the image of Satan as a goat, the source is this holiday and its attributes. We have determined the connection of the goat with the world of the dead. Veles, among other duties, was a shepherd of the world of the dead. He served as the Greek Hades.

Frazer in The Golden Bough points out that the sacrifice of the god of fertility in order to rejuvenate him and increase his power was widespread. “The Golden Bough” p. 541: “Participants in Roman and Slavic rites treated the representative of God not only as a deity of vegetation, but also as a redeemer of other people’s sins. This is evidenced at least by his expulsion - after all, there is no need to expel him outside the city or village of the god of vegetation as such. It’s another matter if this god is also a “scapegoat,” further p. 543. “If the harvest, for example, failed to meet the expectations of the farmer, the failure could be attributed to the decline in the productive ability of the god, responsible for his growth, it might seem that he fell under the influence of witchcraft or became old and decrepit. Therefore, God in the person of his representative was put to death with all due pomp, so that, having been reborn again, he could infuse the energy of his youth into the sluggish course of natural processes. "

Kalyada coped with the winter solstice. It was during this calendar period, when the day should go to profit, that the earth had to be given new strength. The funeral of Dionysus and Osiris and their revival are akin to burning old Badnjak and replacing him with Bozhich. The sacrifice of a goat on Kalyada takes on a new sacred meaning in this case. Ivanushka not only became the “goat of atonement” for the sins of his father and tribe, but could personify the god Veles himself. With his blood he had to give a new birth to the immortal god. Let us add that the winter solstice, and therefore the holiday of Kalyada, falls on the astrological time of Capricorn, which is also associated with the goat and the chthonic world.

The serpentine appearance of Badnyak on Kolyada among the southern Slavs and a similar ritual associated with a goat among the eastern Slavs indicate the correspondence of the various hypostases of Veles. In addition, it indicates the time of creation of the fairy tale. This time corresponds to unity Slavic peoples, when both hypostases of God were considered equal. Veles in the form of a snake or Lizard sucks the blood from the heart of the drowned Alyonushka, Veles in the form of a goat - Ivanushka is sacrificed to give him new strength and rejuvenation. In the South Slavic version, the serpentine Badnyak is burned for the same purpose. Veles is associated with fertility. Let us show that the Serpent, the Lizard, and the Badnyak are associated with the same fertility. A Belarusian song has been preserved:

“The Lizard sits under the feasting tree, On a walnut bush, Where is the nut lusna... (I want to get married) - Take the girl that you want...”

Girls were sacrificed to the lizard Veles. But in our case, not the bride. The main thing here is the mention of nuts. Walnut - in the perception of the ancient Slavs, was akin to an egg. An egg is a symbol of life and the Universe, a nut is a vegetable version of an egg. An egg, like a nut, has a hard shell, which for the time being hides its fertile, life-giving essence. The lizard gnaws nuts, i.e. releases this essence into the wild. This is a kind of “trampling death upon death,” as it is sung in the Easter Christian prayer. The kernel of a nut is the germ of life, the embryo flora. The lizard releases this hidden plant power, like the earth itself, he demands the death of the bride in song, but through death a new life is born. This is how grain dies and is reborn again, this is how the gods Osiris, Dionysus, Badnyak - Veles die and are born in order to be reborn again. There is a Russian superstition: if there is a harvest for nuts, then there will be a large harvest of bread for next year . It is worth mentioning the Russian fairy tale "Where is the goat with nuts." Nuts have nothing to do with goats, but in this tale the goat stubbornly fights for the goat to bring nuts. It is also important that the hazel was considered a sacred tree, inaccessible to the lightning of Perun. Where else could Veles hide from these lightning bolts if not under a hazel tree? We see that Veles is associated with the hazel tree, but under the hazel tree or on it, as the song says, sits the Lizard, the goat of the Russian fairy tale also strives to possess nuts. The nut was considered a talisman against chthonic creatures, primarily snakes. Many nuts were collected and stored in the ground, so they have a clear connection to the earth. In Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Eastern Serbia, the nut was considered the habitat of the souls of ancestors. Veles is also the king and shepherd of these souls. Now it becomes clear what the Lizard is doing under the hazel tree, this is a symbol of his underground kingdom, and the “bride” is a sacrifice to him. Veles, the Lizard, the goat are united by their connection with the nut, as a symbol of the kingdom of the souls of ancestors, the afterlife, the underground kingdom. Let us add that according to Slavic beliefs, a goat is associated with the winds. Maybe he'll let them in. In the already mentioned fairy tale “Where is the goat with nuts,” it is the wind that obeys the goat and helps bring the goat with nuts. According to “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” the winds are Stribozh’s grandchildren. They blow from the sea - a chthonic place. During the period of dual faith in Rus', there was a legend that Saint Kosyan, who was associated with Chernobog and chthonic forces, holds twelve winds underground on a chain and commands them. In Europe, mainly in Germany, when the wind moves across a field, they say: “The goat is coming.” It is also interesting that Stribog, who is correlated with Saturn, commands the winds. It is clearly chthonic in nature. In addition, it is correlated with the constellation Sagittarius. A. Znoiko proves his astral character. In Thrace, on the new moon falling in the constellation Sagittarius, a festival was held, during which the Thracians led a goat through the streets. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato and the Roman historian Titus Livy wrote about this. On the Dnieper, on a new moon, they also took a goat. From this it is clear that Stribog could be associated with Veles or his kingdom. Let's consider another aspect of the image of Veles and its connection with the sacrifice of a goat - Ivanushka. In Fraser's "Golden Bough" it is said that in Lower Bavaria they say about a man reaping the last sheaf: "He has a goat of grain." Horns are stuck into the last sheaf and it is called a horned goat. In East Prussia, a woman knitting the last sheaf is shouted: “And there is a goat sitting in the sheaf.” In Swabia and Bavaria the last sheaf is called a goat. There, a figurine of a goat is cut out and placed in the fields during harvesting. Similar rituals and customs are found throughout Europe. The last sheaf, the reaper knitting the last sheaf, the last strip of bread is a goat. And in Rus' the last strip of bread is “For Veles on his beard.” The last stack is "Veles's beard." The goat has a beard, rare in the animal world. Throughout Europe, the allegorical name is a goat; in Russia, the true name of God is used - Veles.

We can draw the following conclusions. The fairy tale we are considering is no younger than the most ancient Greek myths. It reflects the period of transition from matriarchy to patriarchy, from female priestly tribal rule to male autochthonous rule. This is the period when leaders could still be sacrificed, for sins before the gods and the tribe, for failure, as an analogue of God - for the speedy revival of God. The fairy tale is not built on magic, as in later times. She operates with true magical techniques and rituals. You can point out such fundamental magical techniques as trace magic, similarity magic, magic of substitute sacrifice, magic of rebirth through sacrificial death.

We believe that it was Veles who was supposed to dedicate the sacrifice of the goat - Ivanushka. The drowning and revival of Alyonushka resembles, but in a more cruel, archaic form, the myth of Proserpina and Hades. Here Veles the Serpent is the master of the underground kingdom, Alyonushka is a victim to him. The salvation of Alyonushka and the goat Ivanushka is the victory of Perun over Veles. This is the victory of patriarchy over matriarchy, of the royal-princely method of rule over the female - priestly one. Goat - Ivanushka, in most versions of the fairy tale, remains a goat. He, as it were, already serves Perun as a guide to the kingdom of Veles. In the kingdom of underground forces, with the help of his chthonic weapons, Perun can defeat and overthrow Veles. The murder or expulsion of the witch-priestess is the apotheosis, the triumph of the fairy tale.

In the fairy tale, the witch personifies the old life; she replaces the young queen Alyonushka. The kid is associated with the ancient ancestral Slavic god Veles, who is directly related to the cult of ancestors. In the fairy tale, there is a partial abandonment of this cult, and in return appears new system reign, where the witch, the keeper of ancient family traditions, is replaced by a young queen. The partial break from the family covenants is also due to the fact that at the beginning of the fairy tale it is said that the parents of Ivanushka and Alyonushka died, therefore, they have to build a life themselves.

In this article we wanted to show the archaic and mythological nature hidden in ordinary famous fairy tale. We still have to study all the richness of our folklore and the symbolism hidden behind it.

WEAPONS OF THE THUNDERERS AND THEIR GUIDES

Let us list the types of weapons of the Indo-European thundermen. These are: the hammer of the German Thor, the Perun of Zeus, the Perun of the Slavic Perun and the Lithuanian Perkunas, the Vajra of the Indian Indra.

The origin of this weapon, i.e. what makes these gods thunder and kings is chthonic. This means that they either directly or indirectly received their power from Mother Earth, or the chthonic forces corresponding to her.

This is connected with the main issue - the ancient role of the thunder gods in mythology. The gods of thunder and thunder, in their most ancient form, were opponents of chthonic, evil creatures opposed to the sky, creatures of the earth. We can observe this confrontation in almost all Indo-European mythologies. In ancient Greek it is Zeus and the Titans, in Slavic it is Perun and Veles, in ancient Indian it is Indra and the monster Vritra, in Scandinavian it is the confrontation between Thor and the frost giants, in Hittite and Luwian mythologies it is Teshub and the serpent Illuyanka, etc.

This confrontation is the content of the main Indo-European myth, during the period of transition from pre-mythological ideas to mythological ones.

Let us consider one of the most important pre-mythological magical ideas that still exists today: like is destroyed by like. All sympathetic and love magic to this day is based on this principle. This can be an impact on an image or photograph, or any other image of a person, an impact on a part of the body: hair, nails, sweat, blood, sperm, an impact on a person’s belongings: his things, his trace.

If stones were thought of as part of the earth, i.e. its bones and sinews, and the chthonic gods always opposed Heaven, then weapons of chthonic origin were used against them. The action takes place according to the proverb: “A wedge is knocked out with a wedge.” There are still beliefs that the unclean, chthonic force can be destroyed with special weapons.

1) Wolfdog or werewolf - a silver bullet. Silver is the metal of the Moon, and wolfhounds - wolf people, and werewolves in general, have always been associated with the Moon, especially the full moon.

2) Ghouls and ghouls, according to legend, can be killed with an aspen stake. Ghouls and ghouls are souls cursed during their lifetime. Aspen, also a cursed tree. The Lithuanian folk legend “Spruce the Queen of Snakes” says that Eli’s daughter, Aspen, betrayed her mother and father and caused their deaths. After death, the girl Aspen turned into an aspen tree. IN Christian tradition It is believed that Judas hanged himself on an aspen tree after the betrayal of Jesus Christ. In the encyclopedic dictionary " Slavic mythology"ed. "Ellis Luck" M. 1995 says: "Etymological myths connect the "shaking" of the aspen with God's curse imposed on the aspen for the fact that the cross on which Christ was crucified was made from it, the nails with which he was nailed to cross, as well as the “spokes” that Christ’s tormentors drove under his nails.” In some places, among the Eastern Slavs, aspen was also considered a “devil’s tree,” cf. the characteristic Hutsul name for the devil “osinovets.” In places where aspen grows, according to legend , "devils" are "curling." We see the relationship - the cursed tree kills the damned ghouls and ghouls while they are still alive.

3) Koshchei the Immortal can only be killed by breaking a needle or bone. The destruction of a needle or bone - Koshchei's likeness - leads to his death.

4) In Indo-European, and in any other fairy tales, the hero first looks for a treasure sword, or some other magical weapon, and then defeats a snake, dragon, giant, usually a chthonic creature. This weapon is most often hidden in the dungeon and belongs to a chthonic creature. Even King Arthur’s sword, in the cycle of Celtic legends about the Round Table, was given by a hand from the lake or from the “other world.” After Arthur's death, the sword was returned to the bottom of the lake. A special weapon directed against a specific character in a myth or legend returns to the chthonic world after fulfilling its purpose. This emphasizes that it does not belong to our earthly world.

5) All folk conspiracies are based on the phrase: “As that toto does, so let there be toto.”

We can note that it is precisely the ancient specificity of the thunder god, as a serpent fighter, that connects him with the chthonic world through special weapons, primarily a stone.

The folk etymology of the word "Perun" is interesting. Similar words: stare (a close, piercing gaze), stare - pierce, poper - onslaught, all-overcoming, feather - something sharp (a feather is like a knife among criminals), flying, piercing the air. Words: before, forward - of the same root.

German Thor - at the root of the name the meaning is: to trod - to break through, tour - bull, turn - to throw away sharply, tortoise (man) - brave, skillful, fast, resourceful.

Perun is a penetrator, breaking through the earth's firmament, in search of a chthonic enemy. The name of the Scandinavian god Thor, according to the same etymology - to push, to break through, to break through. That is why the weapon of the Greek Zeus is perun (piercing).

It was necessary for us to separate the late Perun (10th - 15th centuries) from the ancient Indo-Aryan snake fighter. Just as a first-grader girl is not exactly the same person as she was at the age of forty, so the ancient Perun does not in every way correspond to Prince Vladimir’s Perun.

It is known that Perun, at least in Novgorod, was depicted with a stone in his hand. This stone, by analogy with stone and flint among people, was the source of heavenly lightning and thunder. Sacred stones dedicated to both Perun and his Lithuanian counterpart, Perkunas, speak of their connection with stone and, therefore, with the earth. In the Russian fairy tale tradition, the sacred stone Alatyr is apparently also associated with Perun. Let us also pay attention to the fact that the arrows of Perun are still called bolemnite stone. Stones, according to the Indo-European and a number of other peoples, are the bones of Mother Earth. They, the stones, are clearly of chthonic, terrestrial origin. The neighbors of both the Slavs and the Lithuanians are the Karellas and Finns, a group of Finno-Ugric peoples, who have a thunder god named Ukko. It is important for us that in a number of traditions Ukko carves lightning by striking stones (sometimes the knee serves as an anvil and the fist as a hammer), the fist and knee seem to turn to stone. It is no coincidence that the earthly incarnation of Ukko, the elder Väinämöinen, thus, using his petrified knee and fist, strikes fire in the belly of the giant. Sacred stones throughout the area of ​​Finno-Karelian settlement, dedicated to Ukko, indicate that the Finno-Karelian thunderer, like his Indo-European brothers Perun and Perkunas, has a stone as a tool for producing lightning and thunder. Similarly to them, based on the main function, he is Ukko, associated with stone and stone can be represented. The names of the Slavic Perun and the Lithuanian Perkunas are associated with the concept of thunderstorm: thunder, thunder. If we return to the concept of striking a spark-lightning when striking stones, then both to stones and to the underworld. Compare Estonian porgu, “underworld” and Russian: blizzard, as a manifestation of chthonic forces. Ancient Icelandic Fjorgyn, the name of the mother of the thunderer Thor - mountain, stone mountain, cf. Gothic fairguni, “mountain”, Hittite peruna - “rock”, ancient Indian parvata “mountain”, the very name of the Slavic Perun and his connection with stone, perun, as a weapon of the Greek Zeus.

The sky itself, according to the ancient peoples, was made of stone, or on it are the stones of Perun, Ukko, Perkunas. This corresponds to the Indo-European mythology of the stone sky. Sometimes the Lithuanian Perkunas himself is the creator of his weapon Akmeninis kalvis, “stone smith”. This name clearly indicates the connection of Perkunas' weapon with stone, as with Perun and Ukko. Finns and Karelians, both ethnically and culturally, mythologically and other traditions, as well as historical references, are most likely a branch of Indo-European peoples, not Finno-Ugric. The adoption of a foreign language, in this case, apparently, the Sami language, is a frequent occurrence in the history of peoples. Nowadays, entire peoples in South and Central America speak Spanish, but remain Indians; American blacks speak English while remaining blacks. It is impossible to confuse the Finns and the Mongoloid Ob Ugrians, but due to their linguistic similarity they belong to the same group of peoples.

Consider the image of Perun. If we take it in the meaning that was assigned to it in the 10th century. n. e., as the god of the prince and the princely squad in the city, as a god associated with the agricultural cycle in the village, then there is nothing chthonic in his appearance that can connect him with the goat. But the fact is that the meaning and functions of gods can develop and be reinterpreted over time in the mythology of any people. To understand the ancient function of the Indo-European thunderers in more detail, let’s look at their weapons and against whom they are directed. In this case, we will be able to combine historical, mythological, archaeological and other materials and draw correct conclusions about the Thunderers themselves.

1) Perkunas (Lithuania), Perkons (Latvia), Perkunas (Prussia). Weapons: ax or hammer, stones. Later, a sword striking with lightning, a bow and arrows, a club, whips.

Perkunas is called a “stone smith”, his weapon is made of stone and bones of the earth, therefore Perkunas’s power from the earth is chthonic.

2) Perun’s main weapon is stones. According to the recollections of Europeans, in Novgorod the idol of Perun stood with a stone in his hand. Later weapons: axe, bow and arrows ("thunder arrows"). The bolemnit stone is popularly considered to be Perun's arrow. The Polish historian Stryikovsky (16th century) wrote that the idol - the idol of Perun (Perkun) held a stone in his hand, and a sacred fire was constantly burning in front of it. In the chronicle it is written as follows: “Perkonos, who is Perun, is their oldest god, created in the likeness of a man, and in his hands there is a stone, valuable like fire, and for him the unquenchable fire from the oak tree is constantly fired.” If the fire went out, then a new flame was carved by the priests from the stone in the hand of the idol. One should compare the description of the valuable stone burning like fire in Perun’s hand with the description below of the Vajra of the ancient Indian god Indra.

3) Scandinavian Thor, Old Icelandic Borr, German Donar. The weapon is an ax or hammer, often made of stone. According to legend, the weapons were forged or obtained by underground dwarfs - miniatures. These miniatures were originally worms in the body of the first-born giant Ymir. And from the body of Ymir the Earth was created. Miniatures live in the earth and stones, like worms. They are afraid of the light. When light hits them, they die and turn into stone. These miniatures are very reminiscent of the magma of the earth. Magma, like water, could be thought of as living. Magma is fluid, passes through the “veins of the earth”, after reaching the surface, the magma hardens - “turns into stone”. Myths often talk about the treasures of miniatures. Magma brings various minerals to the surface. These minerals and precious ores could be thought of as treasures. Miniatures are clearly chthonic creatures. The weapons of the god Thor are therefore of chthonic origin. It is worth noting that the name of Thor's hammer is Mjollnir, Mjollnir has the same root as the Russian word for "lightning" - Perun's weapon, his arrow.

4) Scandinavian Sami, neighbors of the Scandinavians. "Old Thunderman" is the god of thunder. Miniature stone hammers were sacrificed to him.

5) Karelian and Finnish Ukko, Estonian Uku - in Balto-Finnish mythology the supreme god of thunder. Attributes: lightning, axe, sword - of a secondary nature. Initially, Ukko rolls heavenly stones (thunder) and strikes evil spirits with thunder and lightning. The sanctuaries of Ukko are groves and stones. The connection between Ukko’s weapon and the stone is clearly visible.

6) The ancient Indian thunderer Indra had the weapon Vajra (vajra). She was thought of as a club, a club. According to Vedic tradition, the Vajra was forged for Indra by Tvashtar. Tvashtar is the creator. The word create has the same root. Tvashtar is a creator, but is married to a demoness from the Assur family. This shows his chthonic nature. He, as an indirect chthonic principle, which is akin to Mother Earth among the Slavs and the goddess Gaia-Earth among the ancient Greeks, gave birth to the enemy of Heaven and Indra - the three-headed monster Vishvarupa. Later he again appears as the chthonic king progenitor. He gives birth to the monster Vritra from fire and soma. Vritra is the main opponent of Indra. The victory over Vritra is the main merit of Indra, as the king of the heavenly gods. From here one can see the chthonic, even chaotic nature of Tvashtar and his creation of the Vajra, the main weapon of Indra. Tvashtar carries the principle: everything is in it, all forms and essences. This completely coincides with the ancient Greek definition of Chaos.

According to the text of the Rig Veda (1, 121 12, V 342) - Vajra was in the ocean, in the waters, in the prime matter. We can assume that this is the same magma that, petrified in the light, became Vajra. This is confirmed by her epithets: she is anything, copper, gold, iron, and, what is important, as if she is made of stone or rock. In this case, the chthonic, stone, and possibly magmatic origin of the Vajra as the main weapon of the thunderer is beyond doubt.

7) Teshub, the Thunderer of Khet and Khurian mythology. In the myth, the thunderer Teshub defeats the blind and deaf chthonic monster that threatens to destroy the world - Ulikumme. He cuts it off from the rock that supports the sky with the stone cutter with which the Earth was separated from the Heavens. The chthonic origin of the weapon is obvious. It was still during the Chaos, the confusion of Earth and Sky. Perhaps it was associated with the same frozen magma, as a symbol of chaos and confusion.

8) Greek thunderer Zeus. In Crete, the weapon of Zeus was considered a double ax, which gives and takes away life. At Delphi, Zeus was revered as a fetish otphalus ("navel of the earth") - a stone swallowed by Cronus, or a stone like the navel of the baby Zeus. The weapon of Zeus is chthonic. This weapon was forged by the children of the Earth - Gaia, the hundred-armed Cyclopes. They forged it in an underground, or in other words, volcanic forge. The origin of Zeus' weapons is clearly magmatic, associated with volcanic activity. origin. These weapons - thunder, lightning and Perun - made Zeus the king of the gods.

It is important to note the fact that during a volcanic eruption, when igneous rock with its “treasures” and “semi-finished products” for weapons is poured out, severe thunderstorms and earthquakes occur. A mythological reflection of this could be a battle between a thunderer and a terrible chthonic monster shaking the earth. The universality of the myth of the flood and the associated earthquakes and volcanic eruptions confirms this hypothesis (see Fraser “The Golden Bough”).

Solid igneous rocks that come to the surface after an eruption are the most accessible and unique material for making weapons back in the Neolithic era. Only heroes could dare to go for such a dangerous weapon located on the slopes of volcanoes. These heroes, in ancient times, through acquired weapons and personal courage, could seize power in the tribes and become the first kings - princes. Episodes of such a seizure of power back in Neolithic times could have given rise to the creation of some myths about the Thunderer - a king and a hero. The weapon, made from a piece of solidified lava, was of a mystical-magical nature in its origin; in addition, it could “sparkle” with inclusions of minerals and ores. The very type and origin of the weapon of the Neolithic hero could cause horror among his enemies and deprive them of their strength. This weapon, over time, became overgrown with legends, and eventually passed on to the heavenly thunderer, and the hero-ancestor himself could merge with it. For example, in Germanic mythology, the thunder god Thor is both a god and the ancestor of the Germans. The description of weapons, such as a club, a stone hammer or a club, indicates the Neolithic time of the appearance of these myths about the weapons of the Thunderers. A club, a club, a stone ax or a hammer were the most formidable weapons of ancient man.

Let us note a few more reasons why the thunderer's main weapon is stone or made of stone.

1) In the Neolithic era, the main tool of people was stone.

2) Fire could be created by striking stones, such as flints.

3) The sky was thought of as stone, just like the earth.

4) The fall of the metiarites - “heavenly stones”, pointed to the stone as an instrument of the heavenly gods. These stones were revered, such as the sacred Muslim stone of the Kaaba.

5) Stones are “veins of the earth”, they are chthonic. There is an old Lithuanian fairy tale “Well done and the devil” (Lithuanian folk tales “The Swan Queen”. Vilnius. 1965), corresponding in content to Russian folk tales about the Sea King. In it, the devil living in the underground or underwater chthonic kingdom is called “Gray Mountain Bone.” By analogy with the Russian Koshchei (Kostey), he personifies stone, like the bone of the earth. In German mythology, stones and mountains of earth were made from the bones of the giant Ymir. In the Great Russian Christian apocryphal tales “The Book of the Dove” it is said:

"Bones are strong from stone,

Our bodies are from the damp earth,

Blood ore from the black sea."

The chthonic nature of the stone is even determined by its modern name - “ore vein”. This name hints that the stone is part of the living organism of the earth.

The chthonic deities of the earth are responsible for the stones: the Cyclopes, Koschey of Russian fairy tales, the Slavic god Veles, gnomes, dwarfs, tsvirgs, and later, collectively, devils.

The connection between the ancient Perun and the chthonic world occurs not only through weapons. The most ancient thunderers had a goat as a means of transport. The goat played the role of their guide to another, underground, chthonic world.

The goat is a chthonic animal, not directly related to the celestial and thunder forces. This is true, but still this connection exists, the goat is related to the Thunderers, the chthonic element is associated with the Thunderers. But there is one thing... This connection is indirect, through the weapons of the Thunderers, through one of their functions. The encyclopedia "Myths of the Peoples of the World" points out the connection between the goat and the thunderbirds. Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Let's make a slight digression and consider the ancient Indian god Agni. Agni literally means fire in Sanskrit. In Rus' they addressed fire: Father, you are the King of Fire. He is Agni in Veddic mythology, the god of fire, the god of the hearth (connection with ancestors), and the sacrificial fire. In the Rig Veda, Agni is the main of the earthly gods; about 200 hymns are dedicated to him. He is the central character of the main ancient Indian ritual. Its main function is mediation between gods and people. Agni is a divine priest. The hypostasis of Agni is the fire of the sun and lightning, but he is also the fire in the waters, the fire of the sacrificial fire. Agni was born in three places: in the sky, among people and in the waters. He has three heads, three tongues, three dwellings, three lights, three lives, three powers.

This is important for us because in the Vedic tradition, a goat was almost always sacrificed to Agni. This was done for the purpose of connecting with the world of spirits and ancestors. Ancient Indian, Vedic Indra is associated with a goat as a sacrificial animal. Sometimes a goat was sacrificed to Indra, there is an indication of this in the Upanishads, but the sacrificial goat was dedicated to the god Agni six to seven times more often. Moreover, the sacrifice of a goat to Indra implied a connection with the ancestors. Indra, as the king of the gods, at the moment of sacrificing a goat to him, took on the function of Agni. There was also a formal basis for this. Agni was the twin brother of Indra. In a number of traditions, twin brothers were considered as one person. First of all, this relates to the ancient Indian tradition: Ashvins, Maruts. In the Greek tradition, these are the Dioscuri - Castor and Polydeuces. Indra, and any king of the gods, personifies his entire kingdom, including the chthonic, underground forces. We'll talk about the relationship between these forces and the Thunderers in this section.

Later the horse took over the function of the goat. Hence the contradictions in the interpretation of the image of the horse. The horse, being mainly a symbol of the sun, carries within itself some chthonicity left over from the image of the goat. Being a symbol of the sun or an attribute of the solar god, the horse gradually became an attribute of royal power. With the development of religious teaching, the idea of ​​posthumous retribution, including rewards, appears. The development of these ideas made the horse a guide to the kingdom of the dead. The horse, as it were, contributes to the accession of the deceased in the afterlife. The sun circles through the day and night sides of the world, so the horse must carry its rider through death to a new rebirth, to a new life.

The Scandinavian Thor rode goats and took them for food. Perkūnas led a goat behind him on a rope and sometimes rode it. Zeus was nursed by the goat Amalthea in Crete. Aegis or aegis (“goatskin”) is an attribute of Zeus. The goat connects the thunderer with the underworld, like a bird or a solar horse with the sky. Without the goat, the Thunderer, who, as a rule, is the king of the gods, could not rule the underworld. Most often, this rule comes down to the possibility of punishing and persecuting dark forces. The goat, in this case, is not only the guide of the Thunderer, but he is also a kind of military attribute in the fight against dark forces. In this regard, it is similar to the chthonic weapon of the thunderer. We have already indicated that according to the most ancient views, like should be influenced by like. For example, according to Slavic beliefs, a vodyanoi (an aquatic chthonic creature) can be appeased with the hair of a black goat; an evil brownie torments all animals on the farm except the dog and the goat. The Devil has a goat's hoof and one of his favorite victims is a goat. The goat, as it were, disguises the thunderer. He finds a way to the chthonic kingdom and makes his companion somewhat invulnerable to the forces of this kingdom, he is a kind of amulet. It is known that many ancient Slavic amulets were made according to the principle: by contradiction. The image of a predator's jaw was protection from predators, the key was protection from thieves, small hatchets or knives were protection from enemy weapons, cookies - a kozulka (image of a goat) for the winter holiday Kolyada - protection from dark forces.

Let's consider another aspect of the connection between the Thunderer and the goat. In the reconstructed Indo-European myth, the Thunderer was associated with a mountain, or rather a rock. The battle of the Thunderer with a serpentine enemy of chthonic origin (in the Russian tradition, Veles (Volos)) took place either at a rock, or under a rock, or through a rock. The weapons served, as shown above, were stones or certain objects of chthonic origin. What is important for us is that the goat, by its nature, is associated with mountains and rocks, and therefore, in this aspect, it can be associated with the battle of the thunderer and his chthonic opponent. Moreover, he is a goat, he can also provide the thunderer with the help of spirits - the ancestors of people, as a connecting link with them.

So, we have established that the weapons and attributes of the Indo-Aryan thunderers are associated with the chthonic forces against which these thunderers fight, and this, in turn, is a reflection of the ancient pre-mythological magic of influencing an object or phenomenon through its likeness.

YARILA, DIONYSUS, FAUN, MANIA, GOAT

The South Slavic Badnyak and Yarila are often compared. Yarila is the god of vitality, sexual power - Yari. Yarila is incorrectly compared, under the influence of Ostrovsky's fairy tale "The Snow Maiden", with the sun. Yarila bears a sign of strength and fertilization, but this fertilization is earthly, it is chthonic. It is no coincidence that one of Yarila’s attributes is a death’s head, an indisputable attribute of death. Yarilo is apparently a later Slavic modification of Lizard, Veles, Badnyak. He is completely akin to the Asia Minor Dionysus. Dionysus is decorated with grape leaves from which wine is made. Yarilo is decorated with hop leaves, from which beer is made. Dionysus and Yarilo are revered noisily and cheerfully. Often holidays dedicated to them turn into orgies. On holidays, Yarila kidnaps girls. The same thing happened on the holidays of Dionysus. Dionysus is chthonic and in many ways corresponds to Veles. it is associated with fertility. Yarila is also associated with fertility; he carries a death’s head with him, which means he is associated with the world of death. Effeminacy and gender confusion are present in the figure of Dionysus. Yarila was portrayed by a girl dressed as a young man, which may also indicate the character’s bisexuality. The chthonic nature of Yarila is emphasized by the fact that on his holidays it often came to the point of murder and unbridled sexual orgies. The holidays of Dionysus did not differ from the holidays of Yarila in this regard. The seasonal funeral of Yarila took place, which corresponds to the veneration of both Dionysus and Badnyak - Veles. The phallus served as a symbol of both Yarila and Dionysus. Dionysus came to Greek Olympus from Thrace, and in Thrace, according to a number of recent theories, proto-Slavic tribes lived. As an example, let us cite the wearing of oseledets (forelock) among the ancient Russians, in the Zaporozhye Sich and in Thrace. Dionysus, like Yarila, is apparently a later hypostasis of the ancient Indo-European god Veles - Volos - Lizard - Badnyak. Most likely, the development of the image of Veles in his fertilizing, earthly function led to the isolation of his given hypostasis into the images of Yarila and Dionysus. Yarila's clothes are white. Among the Slavs, white is the color of death, the color of the shroud. White dress the bride's name indicated her death in the parental family. From this idea comes the custom of mourning the bride as if she were dead. In the Apocalypse of St. John, the horse of death is called "the pale horse."

Let's turn to the character of Roman mythology - Faun. Faun - matches Greek god Pan, part of the retinue of Dionysus. This fact alone should attract our attention. Faun (Faunus, from favere, "to help", also Fatuus, Fatulcus, from fatuor, "to be possessed", fando, "to prophesy", Serv. Verg. Aen. VII 47), considered in Roman mythology the god of forests, pastures, fields , animals. The functions of Faun largely coincide with the functions of Veles. Faun had a female counterpart - Faun. The faun gave predictions in verse. Boyan, in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” is called Veles’ grandson. Boyan also spoke in poetry and gave prophecies, at least his epithet is “prophetic”, he speaks about this. It follows that Veles was directly related to prophecies and poetry. The faun, when he was caught by Numa by cunning, was forced to tell him how to turn away the lightning of Jupiter. Interestingly, the god Veles also knows how to hide from Perun’s lightning. The faun is chthonic, he can steal children, send nightmares and illnesses. The same can be said about Veles. The faun had intercourse with all animals and seduced women. This is the quality of the chthonic god of fertility, associated with the most ancient ritual and mystical orgies aimed at fertilizing all living things. Until the beginning of the 20th century, there was a custom in Rus': during the first spring plowing, a peasant went out alone into the field, made a hole in the ground and performed an act of sacred intercourse with Mother Raw Earth. With his seed, the peasant mystically fertilized all of nature, uniting his masculine principle with the feminine one.

During the Lupercalia festival, a goat was sacrificed to the Faun. After making the sacrifice, the Luperc priests, with only a goat skin on their hips, ran around and lashed the women they met with belts cut from the skin of the sacrificial goat. This quilting was supposed to make women fertile. Among other things, Faun, like Veles, was the patron of cattle breeding. Faun, like Dionysus, could also be a development of the image of the most ancient Indo-European god - Veles. He is clearly more archaic than Dionysus and Yarila, he has not yet lost his anthropomorphic features, but he has lost his magical werewolf and the image of a serpent. The closer connection of Faun with the goat, in comparison with Dionysus, suggests that he appeared during the times of matriarchy, during the heyday of female organic mysteries. Similar mysteries, already in ancient Greece were sharply condemned and persisted longest, perhaps, among the Etruscans and among the plebeians of Rome. The Feast of the Faun was a ritual associated with the time of matriarchy. On the Feast of Faun, the creepy chthonic goddess Mania was appeased. Mania is the goddess of darkness and madness, her cult is associated with the cult of dead ancestors. She, like Veles, was responsible for the posthumous existence of her ancestors. Initially, boys were sacrificed to her (a clear feature of matriarchy). In later times, as in Rus' on the holiday of Kupala, they made a sacrificial doll and carried it around the city. The boy was placed on a raised platform so that he could be better seen by the goddess. The boy's head was touched with a knife dipped in the blood of a sacrificial goat. The boy laughed, trying to show madness, and thereby arouse the favor of the goddess Mania. In this holiday, the human sacrifice is replaced by a sacrifice, namely, a goat. The chthonic character of Faun, and even more so of Mania, is beyond doubt. We showed the relationship between Faun and Veles. The Roman holiday is similar to the Slavic one and is also interesting because the goddess Mania is clearly a goddess from the times of matriarchy, as is the entire ritual dedicated to her. The similarity of the main sacred actions - the sacrifice of a boy to the chthonic gods associated with the cult of ancestors and its later replacement with a goat - allows us to attribute the Slavic ritual of such a sacrifice to the time of matriarchy.

Let us consider this image of the Slavic gods, making the assumption that these images are genuine in their main features. If this is so, then a certain logic should be traced in the composition of the characters and their symbolism. The first we see is the image of Perun in his bestial form. It is known that the most ancient gods in the Indo-European and other traditions initially had an animal appearance, and only with the development of ideological concepts they acquired an anthropomorphic form - a human appearance. There are three in this image characteristic features . Archaic - bestiality of the image. A protruding tongue is a symbol of death (see V. Shcherbakov’s instructions on the meaning of a protruding tongue in Roman, Greek, Etruscan pictorial systems and similar images of the dead Humbaba in the Assyro-Babylonian tradition). Full female breasts are a symbol of fertility and feeding. Let us remember that Perun, being the thunderer, was also associated with rain, and therefore with the sowing/feeding of the earth. A protruding tongue may indicate the cyclical annual nature of natural phenomena - the dying and rebirth of nature. Consequently, Perun is depicted as the king of life and death. The next image of Mokosh has the same protruding tongue, as an indication of death and seasonality. Images of Mokosh and Khors have goat legs - defining his chthonicity and connection with fertility. This connects him with the “goat” hypostasis of the Greek Dianis and his goat-footed retinue. Mokosh's body resembles a twisted thread on a spindle, which is associated with her patronage of spinning, including spinning the thread of fate, like Greco-Roman parkas. On the heads of Khors and Mokosh there are certain shoots that resemble either horns - a sign of chthonicity, or young shoots. Makos is associated with the birthing power of the earth - therefore, an indication of its chthonicity - goat-footedness, sprouts on the head, as a symbol of plant life, and an indication of the cyclical nature - the dying of nature (sticking out tongue) are fully consistent with its image. Horse is depicted as a ruler. He has a scopeter - a symbol of power, his left hand is spread out over the ground in a patronizing, imperious gesture, and there are “sprouts” on his head. Khorsa is usually associated with the Sun by the etymology of the name “horo” - “kolo” - circle, movement in a circle, rotation, wheel of the sun. It is worth noting that the sun, according to the ideas of the ancients, also made a night journey through the underworld; in addition, the rotation of the Sun was associated with seasonal changes. In this case, there could be an indication of the hypostasis of Khors as the ruler of the underworld, seasonal changes and fertility. Stribog, according to the etymology of the name, is associated with the Etruscan god of underground fire Satre and the Greco-Roman Saturn - the masters of the underworld. The large ears of the image of Stribog and Khors indicate the predominant importance of hearing among these gods and means a certain blindness characteristic of chthonic characters. The fire of Stribog is an underground volcanic fire associated with both the Satre of the Etruscans and the Saturn of the Greeks (see I. Belkin’s article about Chernobog for more details). The image of one head is an indication of the chthonic nature of the character (M. Evzlin “Myth and Ritual” 1992). Underground fire and winds (Stribozh's grandchildren - SoPI), associated with this character, affect weather conditions and fertility. We can conclude that all images of Slavic gods or their hypostases are associated with seasonal cycles and the regenerating fruit-bearing power of the earth. If they were in the same temple, then it was a temple of fertility. We do not find any serious contradictions between these images and the functions of the characters.

Sample analysis of folk tales

"The Fox, the Hare and the Rooster"

(Russian folk tale for children 3 - 4 years old)

In a simple and entertaining form, the fairy tale conveys to the child the idea of ​​the triumph of justice.

The bunny, feeling sorry for the fox, let her into the hut to warm up. She warmed up and drove the bunny out of his own house. He walks through the forest and cries bitterly. The sympathies of the children are on the side of the offended bunny. The animals he meets along the way sympathize with him and strive to help - they make an attempt to drive out the fox.

The invader-fox intimidates the animals, they do not have the courage to resist her threats: the dogs and the bear run away. Only the cockerel does not give in to deceptive intimidation. He himself threatens to blow off the fox's head. The fox got scared and ran away, and the bunny began to live in his hut again.

In order for the idea of ​​a fairy tale to become understandable to children, the narrator must create a correct sound picture of all events and the actions of each character. The responsive bunny let the fox warm up. When the fox drove him out, “the bunny goes and cries bitterly.” The fairy tale depicts a weak, defenseless animal. The narrator, using appropriate intonations, must show both the character of the bunny and his grief. The bunny’s complaint to the animals he meets sounds bitterly: “How can I not cry?..”

When the bunny sees that neither the dogs nor the bear drove the fox out, he says to the cockerel: “No, you won’t drive him out. They chased the dogs but didn’t drive them out, the bear chased them but didn’t drive them out, and you won’t drive them out!” There is hopelessness in his words.

The image of a fox is negative: it is an invader, an insidious, cruel deceiver. At the very beginning, the fairy tale depicts her behavior. In the words of the narrator: “She warmed herself up, and then kicked him out of the hut” - there should already be a condemnation of her action. Then the fox’s cunning should also be conveyed when she intimidates the animals: “As soon as I jump out, as soon as I jump out, scraps will fly through the back streets!” She boldly and boldly scares animals. It is necessary to show this with intonation of voice. Her words at the end of the fairy tale sound completely different: “I’m getting dressed!.. I’m putting on a fur coat!” Here she herself is frightened by the rooster and, after the third insistent demand, quickly jumps out of the hut.

Dogs, a bear, a cockerel sympathize with the bunny. Each of them sympathetically asks: “What are you crying about, bunny?” By appearance and the animals are different in character. To accurately convey their images, the narrator uses different timbres and tempos of voice: the abrupt, fast, sonorous voice of a dog, the slow, low-pitched speech of a bear, the sonorous, melodious voice of a cockerel. For greater persuasiveness, it is good to use onomatopoeia: dogs should bark, a cockerel should crow.

The general tone of the entire tale, despite the bunny’s grief, is cheerful and cheerful. A good beginning prevails in her, a desire to help a friend. Against this cheerful backdrop, the narrator paints the unfolding events.

The composition of the fairy tale is based on a favorite fairy-tale device - repetition of the action: three meetings of a bunny with animals. Each of them is a complete episode and must be separated from the others by a significant pause.

You should also pause at the end of the fairy tale to give the children the opportunity to feel its happy ending.

"Snow Maiden"

(Russian folk tale for children 5 - 6 years old)

The fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” is magical: in it there is a miraculous transformation of a snow girl into a living one. As in any fairy tale, its wonderful element is intertwined with an everyday realistic basis: the fairy tale depicts the life of childless old people, pictures of native nature at different times of the year, and the fun of children.

This tale is somewhat different from other Russian folk tales in the nature of its content. While most of our fairy tales are cheerful and cheerful, this fairy tale is lyrical, with a tinge of sadness caused by the death of the Snow Maiden.

Reading the tale carefully during the preparation process, the narrator notes that in composition it differs from others. It does not have the dynamism characteristic of fairy tales, nor does it have the usual technique of repeating an action three times. All attention is focused on the image of the Snow Maiden, her behavior, and experiences.

The image of the Snow Maiden was created with great love. Hardworking, smart, friendly. The Snow Maiden is also beautiful in appearance: “every day, it becomes more and more beautiful. She herself is as white as snow, her braid is brown to the waist, but there is no blush at all.”

An image created with such love also requires appropriate lyrical intonations from the narrator, which evokes sympathy in the listeners for the Snow Maiden. The narrator's voice should sound warm, loving, but without cooing, without excessive sentimentality.

The fairy tale wonderfully shows the contrast between the joyful spring awakening of nature and the growing sadness and melancholy of the Snow Maiden. “Winter has passed. The spring sun has begun to warm up. The grass in the thawed patches turned green, the larks began to sing.” The narrator’s voice contains cheerful, cheerful intonations, and then, after a short pause, he continues with a tinge of sadness: “And the Snow Maiden suddenly became sad.”

The end of the fairy tale is expressive - the death of the Snow Maiden. A miracle happens - the Snow Maiden melted and “turned into a white cloud.” The narrator must depict both the surprise and the anxiety of her friends when they call her: “Ay, ay, Snow Maiden!”

Knowing how moves are distributed, we can decompose any fairy tale into its component parts. Recall that the main components are functions characters. Next, we have connecting elements, we have motivations. A special place is occupied by the forms of appearance of the characters (the arrival of the snake, the meeting with the yaga). Finally, we have attributive elements or accessories, such as the yaga’s hut or her clay leg. These five categories of elements determine not only the construction of the fairy tale, but the entire fairy tale as a whole.

Let's try to decompose one fairy tale in its entirety, word for word. For example, we will choose a very small one-way tale, the smallest tale of our material. Sample tests We have highlighted more complex tales in the appendix, since they are important mainly only for a specialist. This fairy tale is "Geese and Swans".

There lived an old man and an old woman; they had a daughter and a little son.	1. Initial situation (i).
“Daughter, daughter,” the mother said, “we’ll go to work, bring you a bun, sew a dress, buy a handkerchief: be smart, take care of your brother, don’t leave the yard.”	2. Prohibition reinforced by promises (b1).
The elders left, but my daughter forgot,	3. Absence of elders (e1).
that she was ordered, she sat her brother down on the grass under the window, and	4. Violation of the prohibition is motivated (Mot).
herself" she ran out into the street, started playing, and took a walk.	5. Violation of prohibition (b1).
Geese-swans swooped in, picked up the boy, and carried him away on their wings.	b. Sabotage (A1).
The girl came, and lo and behold, her brother was gone.	7. Rudiment of a message of trouble (B4).
She gasped, rushed back and forth - no. She called, burst into tears, and lamented that bad things would happen from her father and mother, but her brother did not respond.	8. Detailing; rudiment of tripling.
She ran out into an open field;	9. Leaving the house in search (C).
geese-swans darted in the distance and disappeared behind dark forest. Geese-swans have long had a bad reputation	10. Since in the fairy tale there is no sender who would report the trouble, this role, with some delay, is transferred to the kidnapper, who, by showing up for a second, gives information about the nature of the trouble (connection -§).
They made money, did a lot of mischief and kidnapped small children. The girl guessed that they had taken her brother away and rushed to catch up with them.	11. Appearance of the tester (the canonical form of his appearance - met by chance).
She ran and ran, and the stove stood still.	12. Dialogue with the tester (very short) and test D1.
“Stove, stove, tell me, where did the geese fly?” - “Eat my rye pie - I’ll tell you.” -	13. Arrogant response = negative reaction of the hero (failed test G1neg).
“Oh, my father doesn’t eat wheat.”	14. Tripling. Motifs D1-G1neg are repeated two more times. Rewarding does not occur all three times (Z1neg).
(A meeting with an apple tree and a river follows. Similar proposals and similar arrogant answers).	15. Appearance of a grateful assistant.
And for a long time she would run through the fields and wander through the forest, but luckily she came across a hedgehog;	16. Helpless state of the assistant without asking for mercy (d7).
she wanted to push him,	17. Mercy (G7).
I was afraid of getting hurt and asked:	18. Dialogue (connecting element).
“Hedgehog, hedgehog, did you see where the geese flew?” -	19. The grateful hedgehog points the way (Z9=R4).
“Over there,” he pointed.	20. Home of the antagonist-pest.
She ran - there was a hut on chicken legs, it stood - it turned.	21. The appearance of the antagonist.
Baba Yaga sits in a hut, with a sinewy face and a clay leg.	22. The appearance of the desired character.
My brother is sitting on the bench,	23. Gold is one of the permanent details of the character you are looking for. Attribute.
plays with golden apples.	24. Extraction using cunning or force.
His sister saw him, crept up, grabbed him and carried him away,	25. Not mentioned but implied return.
and the geese fly after her;	26. Pursuit, pursuit in the form of flight.
the villains will catch up - where to go?" A triple test of the same characters follows again, but with a positive answer, which calls for the help of the tester himself in the form of salvation from the chase. A river, an apple tree and a tree hide the girl. The fairy tale ends with the girl's arrival home.	27. The same test again three times (D1), the hero’s reaction this time is positive (L). The tester puts himself at the disposal of the hero (79), thereby saving him from pursuit (Sp4).

If we now write down all the functions of this fairy tale, we get the following diagram:

Now let’s imagine that all the fairy tales in our material were analyzed in a similar way, and that as a result of each analysis a diagram was written out. What will this lead to? First of all, it should be said that decomposition into component parts is extremely important for any science in general. We have seen that until now there has been no means of doing this quite objectively for a fairy tale. This is the first, very important conclusion. But further: the schemes can be compared, and then a number of the issues that were raised above in the introductory chapter are resolved. We now begin to resolve these issues.

V.Ya. Propp. Morphology of a fairy tale - M., 1998.

International Festival “Stars of the New Century” - 2014

Humanities (14 to 17 years old)

"Psychological meaning of Russian folk tales"

Lapaeva Alina, 16 years old,

Head of work:

MBU DOD "House of Children's Creativity"

Yaiva village, Aleksandrovsky district.

Introduction p. 2

Chapter I. Russian folk tale as an object of study p. 5

1.1. Definition of the concept “fairy tale” p. 5

1.2. Distinctive features of Russian folk tales. 6

1.3. History of the study of fairy tales p. 9

1.4. Classification of Russian folk tales p. 11

Chapter II. Analysis of Russian folk tales from the point of view

from the point of view of psychology p. 15

2.1. Analysis of the Russian folk tale “Kolobok” p. 15

2.2. Analysis of the Russian folk tale “Turnip” p. 17

2.3. Analysis of the Russian folk tale “The Frog Princess” p. 18

2.4. Analysis of the Russian folk tale “The Ryaba Hen” p. 20

Conclusion p. 23

List of used literature p. 25

Introduction

“Whatever shadow comes over your life:

Will you be worried about the fate of Russia,

will “black thoughts” come to you?

about your personal destiny or just life

will seem like an “unbearable wound”, remember

about a Russian fairy tale and listen to it

From early childhood, as soon as we begin to understand ourselves, our mother reads fairy tales to us. First these are Russian folk tales, then literary ones. We become older and think about why everything in a fairy tale is not the same as in life.

Russian folk tales contain great educational power. They teach us to be kinder, more modest, stronger, more self-possessed. Do we even need fairy tales? Do we understand and interpret them correctly? In lessons starting from primary school, students analyze the meaning of fairy tales together with the teacher. We wanted to look at the Russian folk tale from a different perspective. We found it interesting to analyze the meaning of the fairy tale from the point of view of psychological knowledge: to understand the motivation of the characters, evaluate their ways of communicating with each other, the development of personal characteristics, etc.

Our choice fell on Russian folk tales because, firstly, we have known them since childhood, and secondly, at present great attention is given to the formation of civic feelings, patriotism, love for native land, Russian culture. Our school is no exception.

The phenomenon of Russian folk tales has been studied by such scientists as, etc.

It should be noted that fairy tales and their heroes are excellent material for pedagogical, psychological, psychotherapeutic, correctional and developmental work. , M.-L. von Franz, N. Pezeshkyan, M. Osorina and others paid attention to various aspects of the fairy tale in cultural practice. Interesting scientific and practical results are provided by such a direction of work as fairy tale therapy (T. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva, B. Betelheim, A. Gnezdilov, I. Dobryakov and other researchers).

Classics of psychology have repeatedly turned to the analysis of fairy tales. I also noticed that the characters of fairy tales (as well as myths) express various archetypes and therefore influence the development and behavior of the individual. Another classic, E. Bern, pointed out that a specific fairy tale can become a person’s life scenario.

Object of study: psychological meaning of Russian folk tales.

Subject of research: text of Russian folk tales “The Frog Princess”, “Turnip”, “The Ryaba Hen”, “Kolobok”.

Purpose of the study: reveal the psychological meaning of Russian folk tales.

Research objectives:

1. Study the concept of a fairy tale.

2. Reveal the distinctive features of Russian folk tales.

3. Consider the history of the study of fairy tales.

4. Get acquainted with the classification of Russian folk tales.

Research hypothesis: Russian folk tales, in addition to their educational potential, have great psychological knowledge that does not always lie on the surface. You need to be able to consider them.

Research methods: analysis of scientific literature and literary texts.

Practical significance of the work lies in the fact that it is necessary to be able to “see” the deeper, hidden meaning of not only fairy tales, but also texts of any other genre. By revealing it, you can, by working on yourself, improve yourself, change your life scenario, avoid the negative consequences of some actions, learn from the negative experience of the heroes, not allowing it in your life, etc.

ChapterI. Russian folk tale as an object of study

1.1. Definition of the concept “fairy tale”

The great writer, linguist, collector and interpreter of Russian words gives two definitions of a fairy tale. In his “Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” the word “fairy tale” is explained as an announcement, message, announcement, as well as a fairy tale - “a mental story, an unprecedented and even unrealizable story, a legend.”

Fairy tales are collectively created and traditionally preserved by the people oral prose artistic narratives of such real content, which necessarily require the use of techniques of implausible depiction of reality.

A fairy tale is a type of narrative folklore that includes various genres and a narrative literary genre. Folklore, as well as literary fairy-tale genres allow for a certain amount of artistic fiction and tell about events that are unusual in the everyday sense (fantastic, miraculous or everyday, demonological stories). The reliability of fairy-tale events is sometimes questioned by the storyteller himself (in folklore), or the author (in literature), and, usually, by the listener and/or literary reader.

A fairy tale is one of the main genres of folklore, an epic, predominantly prosaic work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature with a focus on fiction.

Fairy tale: 1) a type of narrative, mainly prosaic folklore (fairy tale prose), which includes works of different genres, the content of which, from the point of view of folklore bearers, lacks strict authenticity; 2) genre of literary narrative (literary fairy tale).

Fairy tale – 1) a narrative work of oral folk art about fictitious events; 2) Untruth, lies, fiction, something that no one believes (colloquial).

A famous Russian scientist, writer, lawyer, philosopher gave his definition of a fairy tale in 1942: “A fairy tale is an epic, most often prosaic work with a focus on fiction, a work with a fantastic plot, conventionally fantastic imagery, a stable plot-compositional structure and focused on listener through the form of storytelling"

A well-known fairytale expert gives a definition of a fairy tale, which is worth agreeing with: “A folk tale (or “kazka”, “fable”, “fable”) is an epic oral work of art, predominantly prosaic, magical, of an adventurous or everyday nature with a focus on fiction. The last feature distinguishes a fairy tale from other genres of oral prose: tales, legends and tales, that is, from stories presented by the narrator to listeners as a narrative about events that actually took place, no matter how unlikely and fantastic they may be.”

Having analyzed these definitions, we can identify the common features inherent in the fairy tale:

one of the genres of oral folklore;

· the fairy tale contains fictitious events and lacks authenticity.

1.2. Distinctive features of Russian folk tales

Fairy tales of different peoples also have pronounced national features. Russian folk tales are extremely diverse, rich in artistic palette and significance. Their national specificity is reflected in the language, in everyday details, in the nature of the landscape, way of life, mainly peasant.

Russian folk tales have a certain ideological orientation, and, above all, humanism, in which lies its longevity and vitality in our days.

Russian fairy tales traditionally contain good and evil heroes, well-established epithets: Vasilisa the Wise, Elena the Beautiful, a beautiful maiden, a good fellow, spring is red and many others. In fairy tales about animals, certain characters - animals - are endowed with “permanent characteristics”: the bear is clubfooted, clumsy, strong and kind; gray wolf - fierce but stupid; The sly fox always gets away with any situation. Positive heroes of fairy tales: Ivan the Fool, Elena the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise - bearers of folk ideals and high morality.

The bright world of positive fairy-tale heroes and their assistants is contrasted with the dark forces of this kingdom - Kashchei the Immortal, Baba Yaga, Dashing One-Eyed, Leshy, Vodyanoy - all kinds of evil spirits.

Russian folk tales have a traditional composition: the beginning (the opening line) is “Once upon a time... In a certain kingdom, in a certain state...” An interesting, unpredictable development of the plot, a climax, with the inevitable triumph of good, and a denouement. In fairy tales, triplicity of repetitions is often used: three roads, three brothers, 33 years old, etc. Everyday fairy tales, as a rule, have a satirical content and ridicule stupidity, laziness, greed, and carelessness. Particularly popular in Russian folklore are tales about smart men and swaggering, stupid and stubborn landowners and priests. They reflected the aspirations and expectations of the people, their confidence in the triumph of justice. It brings goodness, an understanding of justice, an unshakable faith in the triumph of truth, and the victory of the forces of light.

In Russian fairy tales there are often repeated definitions: a good horse, a gray wolf, a red maiden, a good fellow, as well as combinations of words: a feast for the whole world, go wherever your eyes look, a wild man hung his head, neither can be said in a fairy tale, nor described with a pen, soon the tale is told, but it doesn’t take long to get it done, whether it’s long or short.

Often in Russian fairy tales the definition is placed after the word being defined, which creates a special melodiousness: my dear sons, the sun is red, the beauty is written. Short and truncated forms of adjectives are characteristic of Russian fairy tales: the sun is red, he hung his head violently, and verbs: grab instead of grabbed, go instead of go.

The language of fairy tales is characterized by the use of nouns and adjectives with various suffixes, which give them a diminutive meaning: small - enk - y, brother - ec, rooster - ok, sun - yshk - ko. All this makes the presentation smooth, melodious, and emotional. Various intensifying-excretory particles also serve the same purpose: that, that, that, ka (What a miracle! Let me go to the right. What a miracle!)

Thus, the distinctive features of Russian folk tales are:

1. The presence of fairy-tale formulas - rhythmic prose phrases:

· “Once upon a time...”, “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state...” - fairy-tale initials, beginnings;

· “The fairy tale is told soon, but the deed is not done soon” - middle formulas;

· “And I was there, I drank honey and beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth,” “The fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows,” - a fairy-tale ending, finale.

2. The presence of “common places” - different ones wandering from text to text fairy tales entire episodes: the arrival of Ivan Tsarevich to Baba Yaga, where prose alternates with rhythmic passages.

3. Clichéd description of the portrait: Baba Yaga – a bone leg, Vasilisa the Wise.

4. Clichéd formulaic questions - answers: “Where is the way - the road you are heading?”, “Stand in front of me, stand with your back towards the forest”, etc.

5. Clichéd description of the scene: “on the Kalinov Bridge, on the Currant River,” etc.

6. Clichéd description of actions: the hero’s journey on a carpet - an airplane, etc.

7. The presence of general folklore epithets: a beautiful maiden, a good fellow, etc.

1.3. History of the study of fairy tales

The word "fairy tale" first appears in the seventeenth century as a term denoting those types of oral prose that are primarily characterized by poetic fiction. Until the mid-nineteenth century, fairy tales were seen as “mere amusement” worthy of the lower classes or children, so fairy tales published at this time for the general public were often reworked and rewritten according to the tastes of the publishers.

Around the same time, among Russian literary scholars there was a growing interest in authentic Russian fairy tales - as works that could become the foundation for the study of the “real” Russian people, their poetic creativity, and therefore could contribute to the formation of Russian literary criticism. At that time, it was believed that the formation of a national literary school was possible only in the conditions of the existence of “truly folk” literature; for this, in fact, it was necessary to understand what the origins of Russian spirituality and the Russian national character were.

The study of fairy tales can be carried out from the 18th century, when, in fact, scientific interest in them arose. One of the first scientists who understood the value of fairy tales was a historian who saw in them a reflection of the history and life of the Russian people.

Many writers of the 18th century showed interest in fairy tales, but only at the beginning of the 19th century. They saw in them the expression of “the soul of the Russian people,” as the Decembrist Marlinsky said. He not only found echoes of antiquity in them, but also understood their vital significance.

Belinsky appreciated the historical significance of fairy tales. He valued satirical tales especially highly. In his opinion, fairy tales are very important for the study of folk concepts, views and language. And he considered the tales “About Shemyakin’s Court” and “About Ersha Ershovich” to be “precious historical documents.”

Since the 50s of the XIX century. The first scientific schools in the field of folklore studies began to form in Russia. They paid a lot of attention to fairy tales. The so-called mythological school saw in fairy tales the necessary material for the study of myths, of which it considered fairy tales to be a direct continuation.

For the study of fairy tales, the system of historical poetics that he tried to build was very important. She contributed to the study of many issues related to the fairy tale: its origin, history, structure, typology of plots and their connection with the socio-historical conditions of existence of this genre. His views on the structure of a fairy tale and its main elements turned out to be especially valuable.

Among the scientific works about the fairy tale of the early 19th century. One should mention the large article by V. Bobrov “Russian folk tales about animals” (1906-1908), which gives a detailed description of this type of fairy tales. compiled a “Systematic Index of Themes and Variants of Russian Folk Tales” (1911-1914). The book “Russian Folk Fairy Tale” (1914) is very important, in which the history of collecting and studying Russian fairy tales is outlined in some detail.

Works dedicated to Russian fairy tales are of great interest. From her fascination with the individual characteristics of storytellers, she turned to the general issues of fairy tales. In 1963, the book “Russian Folk Fairy Tale” was published, in 1965 - “The Fates of the Russian Fairy Tale”. The second of them examines in detail historical path Russian folk tales.

A valuable study on the fairy tale is the book “Images of an East Slavic Fairy Tale” (1974). It is devoted to the consideration of four main types of fairy-tale heroes: heroic heroes, ironic losers, hero’s assistants, and hero’s opponents. The study is comparative in nature: the author compares Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian fairy tales, which makes it possible to highlight what they have in common and establish national differences in language and style, details of everyday life and features of the depiction of nature.

1.4. Classification of Russian folk tales

Attempts to identify types of Russian fairy tales and construct their classification began in the first half of the 19th century, when he divided them according to the characters of the heroes (heroes, daring people, fools, wise men, monsters, etc.). But since characters of this type acted in different types of fairy tales, and, in addition, Sakharov did not take into account fairy tales about animals, the classification he proposed did not take root in science.

Various researchers of Russian folk tales have proposed their own classifications. This is how Russian folk tales are divided into fairy tales:

· about animals;

· magical;

· adventurous - novelistic;

· household .

offers his classification of Russian folk tales:

· magical;

· cumulative;

· about animals, plants, inanimate nature and objects;

· everyday or novelistic;

· fables;

· boring fairy tales.

Tales about animals. The main characters are animals, birds, fish, as well as objects, plants and natural phenomena. In fairy tales about animals, a person either 1) plays minor role(the old man from the fairy tale “The Fox and the Wolf”), or 2) occupies a position equivalent to an animal (the man from the fairy tale “The Old Bread and Salt is Forgotten”). If in world folklore there are about 140 plots of fairy tales about animals, then in Russian folklore there are 119, of which a significant part is not repeated among any of the nations.

Fairy tales. In a fairy tale, a person communicates with creatures that you will never meet in life: Koshchei the Immortal, Baba Yaga, the many-headed Serpent, giants, dwarf sorcerers. Here are also unprecedented animals: the Golden Antlers Deer, the Golden Bristle Pig, the Burka Sivka, the Firebird. Often wonderful objects fall into the hands of a person: a ball, a self-shaking wallet, a self-assembled tablecloth, a self-assembled baton. In such a fairy tale, everything is possible!

Fairy tales are based on a complex composition, which has an exposition, a plot, plot development, a climax and a denouement. The plot of a fairy tale is based on a story about overcoming loss or lack, with the help of miraculous means or magical helpers. The exposition of the fairy tale tells about all the reasons that gave rise to the plot: prohibition and violation of the prohibition on some actions. The premise of the tale is that the protagonist or heroine discovers a loss or shortage. Plot development is a search for what is lost or missing. The climax of a fairy tale is that the protagonist or heroine fights an opposing force and always defeats it (the equivalent of fighting is solving difficult problems. These problems are always solved). Denouement is overcoming a loss or lack. The hero or heroine at the end “reigns” - that is, they acquire a higher social status than they had at the beginning.

The moral of a fairy tale is always determined by popular ideas about good and evil, that is, the ideas of the common people about the ideal embodied in the image of positive heroes who invariably emerge victorious in the irreconcilable struggle against evil and injustice. In Russian folk tales, the most popular stories are about the three kingdoms, about the magic ring, about Ivan the Fool, about Sivka the Burka, about Vasilisa the Wise, about Helen the Beautiful, about Kashchei the Immortal, etc.

Novelistic fairy tale(everyday) has the same composition as a fairy tale, but has a qualitative difference with it. In a fairy tale of this genre, unlike a fairy tale, truly miraculous events occur (the worker defeats the devil). In the short story there is a trickster - a man. He is from the people's environment, he fights for justice with great power and achieves it. In their structure they are close to an anecdote and usually they are imbued with an acute social orientation. Usually the storyteller imagines a peasant, worker or soldier in a situation well known to him.

The novelistic fairy tale accurately conveys life and circumstances folk life. Truth coexists with fiction, with events and actions that cannot actually happen. For example, a cruel queen is corrected by changing places with the wife of a brawling shoemaker for several days. In everyday fairy tales, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor are contrasted.

In an everyday fairy tale (it is not without reason that it is also called a picaresque), theft is quite acceptable. Failures haunt everyone in fairy tales. real life dominated the people, robbed them, offended them. The peasant gains the upper hand over the master, the worker over the priest, the soldier over the general, and the younger one, offended in the family, over the old tyrants. The beginning of the fairy tale corresponds to the actual, unfair state of affairs, and the end necessarily destroys this injustice.

Cumulative tales are built on the repeated repetition of some link, as a result of which either a “pile up” or a chain arises. The cumulative unit is distinguished:

1. With endless repetition: “The Tale of the White Bull,” “The priest had a dog,” etc.

2. With final repetition:

· “Turnip” - plot units grow into a chain until the chain breaks;

· “The cockerel choked” - the chain “unwinds” until the chain breaks;

· “For a rolling duck” - the previous unit of text is negated in the next episode.

There are few cumulative tales in Russian folklore. In addition to the compositional features, they are distinguished by style, richness of language, often gravitating towards rhythm and rhyme.

Tales - These are fairy tales built on the absurd. They are small in volume and often take the form of rhythmic prose. Fables are a special genre of folklore, which is found among all nations as an independent work or as part of a fairy tale, buffoon, bylichka, epic.

Boring tales. Such tales were created as comic and always funny. They were composed primarily to fend off ardent fans of fairy tales, but also adults. These works begin with the usual enticing beginning, and end with a strange ending, when the attentive listener finds himself in unexpected confusion (A crane and a sheep walked around the ring, around the ring: they were sweeping away a haystack, should we say from the end?).

Chapter II. Analysis of Russian folk tales from the point of view of psychology

2.1. Russian folk tale "Kolobok" ( fairy tale text see Appendix No. 1)

The fairy tale begins like this: “Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman.” The very beginning of the tale suggests that these old people lived poorly and alone, because if it was said that a grandfather and a woman lived, then one could assume that they have grandchildren, which means they are not alone.

Psychological characteristics of Kolobok

It can be assumed that this character was good-natured. This can be judged by its shape: round, ruddy. Its roundness tells us that it is not conflicting.

Kolobok was also cheerful, because he sang songs all the time. At some points he seems downright stupid. You can draw an analogy between Winnie the Pooh’s song about “there is sawdust in my head” and Kolobok’s song: in his song he also tells what he is made of, what he consists of. However, the fact that he sang songs suggests that his movement caused him not fear, but joy, and joy does not sit inside, which is why he expressed his emotions so actively.

By nature, Kolobok was an extrovert: he did not lie alone on the window, talking to his inner voice, but hit the road.

It can be assumed that Kolobok was an egoist. Firstly, he abandoned his elderly parents, and secondly, when meeting animals, when they wanted to enter into dialogue with him, he spoke only about himself, talking only about his life: he would tell and run away. We can say that the communication process was one-sided. Relationships are built on the principle of avoidance: he will tell about himself and slip away.

The inability to communicate is evidenced by the fact that different animals are different types of people. They appear in the form of a hare, wolf, bear and fox. With each of the types of characters he encounters, he demonstrates the same model of behavior, instead of finding his own approach to each. It is necessary to be able to build your own strategy of behavior and communication with each type of people.

Another component of Kolobok is his vanity. Listening to praise about himself, he forgot about the danger. He paid for his vanity.

The lines from his song speak about Kolobok’s self-confidence: “And I’ll run away from you!”

Motives for Kolobok's actions

His movements and actions were not controlled by consciousness: at first he lay and lay on the window, then he rolled, not realizing where and why. There is no purpose in his movement.

The general meaning of the tale

1. Who eats Kolobok? Someone who knows how to manipulate people. Now it is fashionable to talk about the ability to influence people. Lisa coped with this task more effectively than anyone else. Those who know how to manage people, know all their strengths and especially weaknesses, make good psychologists, managers, lawyers, etc.

2. It is necessary to learn to build relationships with other people, to study effective communication and interaction.

3. The fairy tale “Kolobok” is a fairy tale about spiritual development. Kolobok ran away, abandoned his social group and began his path of knowledge. The first one on the way was a hare. The hare symbolizes fear and cowardice. Fear is a very huge obstacle to achieving your goal. But he runs away from the hare, which means he overcomes fear. Next is the wolf. The wolf is a predator that lives by killing others. The wolf symbolizes aggressiveness, hostility, temper, anger. These are precisely the qualities that interfere with the path of self-improvement. But Kolobok overcame them too and ran away from the wolf. Next Kolobok met a bear. He is lazy and complacent. Laziness and complacency are a danger that warns any person who has already managed to achieve something in life. For many of us, indulging in these two qualities means one thing - spiritual death. Our Kolobok overcomes this obstacle too. But all spiritual development ended when he met a fox, who played on the weak sides of Kolobok’s personality.

2.2. Russian folk tale "Turnip"(for the text of the tale, see application no. 2)

1. Grandfather could not pull out the turnip. But the grandfather did not lose heart, he found a way out of the situation. If you can’t do something alone, you don’t have to rely only on yourself, be proud and independent, you can call comrades, friends, etc. In any, even the most hopeless situation, you need to have the support of people. After all, we are often unable to cope with our problems on our own. Taking a step forward, you need to realize that you have support and solid support that will not let you down at the most inopportune moment. The fairy tale teaches us to understand that a single force is needed to solve a specific problem.

2. Grandfather called grandmother. The grandfather is, of course, the head of the family, and the grandmother is subordinate to him. The grandfather turned for help to someone who is hierarchically lower than him, which means it was his mistake. But my grandfather had no other choice.

3. The grandmother called her granddaughter. It is interesting that it is not the grandfather, as the head of the family and the leader of the process of pulling out the turnips, who calls the granddaughter, but the grandmother. This is probably because the girl in the family, when distributing roles and responsibilities, is, after all, subordinate to an adult woman, and not to her grandfather. We used the last reserve, but the turnip is still in the ground.

4. The granddaughter called Zhuchka. An interesting fact is that the grandfather, grandmother and granddaughter are nameless, and their four-legged friends have names (Zhuchka, Masha). This suggests that these are not just random animals, but members of their family, residents of this house. The girl calls for help from the one she plays with and spends more time with - Bug.

5. Who should we call Zhuchka if there is only one cat left, Masha, and we know that cats and dogs rarely get along with each other? The inability to pull out a turnip, which means the likelihood of remaining hungry and finding oneself in a difficult life situation, unites the family, and peace replaces hostility. The bug calls, and Masha comes. Here is a test of loyalty to the masters, and, by and large, a test of whether we can forget our impartiality in the face of a common cause, whether we can have this most common thing, and on the other hand: whether we can forgive our enemies.

6. When all the resources of a given family are exhausted, who should you call for help? Masha called her enemy - the mouse. And the mouse came. The motive of the mouse is not clear, because Masha tried to eat the mouse every now and then in real life, and it is unlikely that she would have been treated to a turnip. According to her reasoning, it should probably be like this: let this Masha suffer with the turnip, as I suffered while running away from her. But a mouse is an animal that, one way or another, lives near people and feeds from their table, their crumbs, supplies, etc. Probably, remembering this, the mouse decided to help them solve their problem in gratitude.

7. The fairy tale showed that in this family everyone lives in peace and harmony, with a clear distribution of family roles and responsibilities. In difficult times, everyone is ready to help the other.

8. The smallest of this chain of pullers helped pull out the turnip. This suggests that even the smallest help cannot be neglected, and also that the loss of one, even the weakest link, threatens failure in solving the problem, when working on a common cause.

2.3. Russian folk tale “The Frog Princess” ( For the text of the tale, see appendix no. 3)

1. The tale begins with the king gathering his sons and announcing to them his desire to marry them. To do this, he suggested that they shoot arrows: wherever the arrow hits, there they will woo the bride. Ivan Tsarevich and his brothers in this situation do not show personal maturity, because the father-tsar sets a vital goal for them. They also do not have freedom of choice (take the bride from those places where the arrow will hit). Heroes have no active position, but this is understandable: since the goal was not set by them, then there is no motivation in choosing a bride.

In this case, they act as externals (these are people who shift responsibility for the events that happen to them to other people; mature individuals must be internals, i.e., take responsibility for themselves).

2. Having received a frog as a wife, Ivan resigned himself, although he was upset. Each time he received tasks for his wife from his father, Ivan became sad, gave up, again demonstrating a passive position. In these situations, he refused to do anything, did not even invite his wife to think, discuss the situation in order to find a way out. Ivan obediently went to bed, expecting that the morning would be wiser than the evening.

3. Vasilisa the Wise in the image of a frog, on the contrary, shows activity, wisdom, creativity, and the ability to support the weak. Ivan Tsarevich still shows infantilism, rejoicing that his wife is completing tasks and is not even interested in how she does it. Now his wife solves all his problems for him.

4. When the protagonist burns the frog's skin, he creates problems for both himself and his wife. Here Ivan demonstrates his selfish beginning, indulging only in his own desires. Vasilisa flies away, turning into a bird.

5. At this stage, the formation of Ivan’s personality begins. He shows search activity, responsibility for his wife, and independence in choice, having decided to go in search of his wife. On the way to his goal, Ivan overcomes many obstacles, shows courage, meets new characters, learns to accept and provide help, sympathize, and appreciate the lives of others. This character gradually becomes a mature personality, developing certain qualities in himself, acquiring certain characteristics.

6. When meeting an old man, Ivan receives a ball that should lead him further. This suggests that you don’t always have to rely on yourself, act at random, go “wherever your eyes look,” and it’s not a sin to ask for the advice of an older, more experienced person, to use his “guiding ball.”

7. The ability to negotiate with people, trust partners, and coordinate your actions with them can be traced from scenes of encounters with animals.

8. Returning home with Vasilisa means that Ivan has joined his roots, which creates the impression of stability and stability, confidence in the future.

9. Restoring the integrity of the family and its psychological well-being depends on both spouses: it is necessary to correctly distribute roles in the family, and be able to take responsibility for their actions and decisions regarding the family.

10. We suggested that maybe Ivan did a good thing by burning the frog’s skin. Maybe this was necessary for the frog to become a princess? Only here, too, there is something to think about. If the person next to you is going through a “process of transformation,” then it is useful for him to know that he is supported, respected and understood, and not cut off from going back. Conversely, the way back can remain long enough and create a feeling of freedom (if you want to return to the frog skin, please), and you need to let the person understand that he has already grown out of this frog skin, and as soon as he understands this, burn it together.

2.4. Russian folk tale "Ryaba Hen"(text of the tale see Appendix No. 4)

1. Once upon a time there lived a grandfather and a woman. Why not husband and wife? In the village any woman was called a woman, regardless of her age, but a middle-aged man would be called a muzhik. So the word "grandfather" is a reference to age. It is significant that there are only two of them - grandfather and woman, other people are absent. So you imagine a dilapidated hut, two old people who have no one to turn to for help.

2. And they had a hen called Ryaba. The old people lived poorly, but they still had chicken. They loved her, this can be seen from the way they called her - not hen, but hen.

3. The chicken laid an egg - not an ordinary one, but a golden one. And here’s the mystery – the egg turned out to be not simple, but golden. The course of their lives, which seemed to be set once and for all, was disrupted. Perhaps there is a hint here: constancy is deceiving; while life lasts, everything can change - quickly and at the most inopportune moment. He who stands tall can fall, and he who stands tall can rise. Here a miracle is sent to the elderly. A golden egg from an ordinary chicken should be perceived as a miracle even at the everyday level. It is unlikely that the old people had ever held gold in their hands before; they might never have seen it at all, but they must have heard about it for sure. In any case, the fact that this testicle is not simple is quite obvious. And what are their actions?

4. Grandfather beat and beat, but did not break. They beat the woman and beat her, but she didn’t break her. The listener of the fairy tale - a modern adult - will call such behavior inadequate. What are the signs of inadequacy? The grandfather, and after him the woman, cannot go beyond the stereotype. They are trying to break the golden egg, that is, they treat it the same way as they treated ordinary eggs before. They simply have no other actions in stock. On the one hand, this is naivety and even innocence. The current pragmatist, knowing the price of gold, would certainly find a way to turn a miracle into wealth. However, on the other hand, the grandfather and woman simply cannot accommodate the miracle that befell them. As a result, they don’t need a miracle.

5. The mouse ran, waved its tail, the egg fell and broke.
She pushed the testicle in the wrong direction malicious intent, and by chance, she simply waved her tail out of place. And the blame for what happened lies not with the mouse, but with the grandfather and woman - they left the egg unattended, and did not even put it in the basket, but forgot it on the table or on the bench, apparently where they were unable to break it. We have to admit the disregard for the miracle. If at first the testicle seemed special and aroused interest, then the miracle became boring, especially since it was not possible to get any benefit from it. And the unclaimed miracle goes away. The mouse here is only a physical reason; if it had not run past, something else would have happened.

6. Grandfather is crying, woman is crying. The motive for their crying is unclear, because they just wanted to break it themselves, but they failed. Besides, it’s probably annoying: it turns out they could have broken it, apparently they just didn’t approach it that way. The reason for their tears, if you follow the logic of the relationship between man and miracle, is different. This is repentance. The realization comes that the miracle was taken away due to their unwillingness to accept it. This is a feeling of their internal imperfection, spiritual wretchedness, regret over the loss not of gold as such, but of an unprecedented phenomenon.

7. And the chicken clucks: “Don’t cry, grandfather, don’t cry, woman.” I will lay you a new egg, not a golden one, but a simple one. The appearance of a golden egg is perceived as a gift of fate - so the grandfather and woman were lucky. But they couldn't manage it because they didn't know how. But hope is sent to them again, food is again promised in the form of a simple egg. And the golden egg was probably a test, a temptation.

8. The meaning of the fairy tale is also that if you are given a chance to change your life, then don’t miss it, take advantage of it, and if you don’t take advantage, then don’t cry about the missed opportunities, but be content with the little that you have.

Conclusion

It often happens that the shorter the fairy tale, the more meaning it carries. Fairy tales are varied, like all of our lives. In Russian folk tales, you can find an explanation for your actions, compare yourself and the hero, they help us find a way out of difficult situations, build a positive scenario for changing our lives.

The fairy tale shows possible and desirable forms of behavior. The example of Ivanushka the Fool, who pretended that he did not know how to sit on Baba Yaga’s shovel, shows in which cases cunning is effective. In other situations, while listening to a fairy tale, learn that there are moments when you need to be brave and use direct aggression - take out a sword and defeat the dragon, show your strength or wealth.
A fairy tale, especially a magical one, is a source that restores mental strength. Possibility of use magical power- this is nothing more than a reminder that additional levers can be found to solve any problems.

A fairy tale allows you to experience emotions. The characters are, of course, fictional, but their actions evoke very real feelings. That is, a fairy tale provides an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others! You can, for example, experience the state of your sister from the fairy tale “Geese and Swans” and find out how hard it will be if you “leave your brother and play and take a walk.”

A fairy tale has the power of suggestion. Most often, we tell a story before bed, when the child is relaxed, and this is a favorable state for suggestion. Therefore, it is advisable to tell positive stories with a happy ending at night.

The fairy tale prepares you for growing up. The unprepossessing Emelya turns into a handsome groom, little Thumbelina passes a series of tests and ends up in the land of the Elves. These are nothing but stories of transformation little man into an adult.

Psychologists believe that a person repeats the script of his favorite fairy tale. Therefore, let all people be surrounded by kind, optimistic, educational fairy tales.

List of used literature

1. Anikin folk tale: A manual for teachers. – M.: Education, 1977. – 208 p.

2. Vedernikov's folk tale. – M.: Nauka, 1975 – 32 p.

4. Dotsenko the space of a psychotechnical fairy tale // Journal of practical psychologist. - 1999. - No. 10-11.- p. 72-87.

5. Zinkevich - Evstigneeva to magic: theory and practice of fairy tale therapy. – M.: Education, 1996. – 352 p.

6. Pomerantsev features of Russian post-reform fairy tales. – M.: Soviet ethnography, 1956, No. 4, p. 32-44.

7. Pomerantsev folk tale. - M.: Soviet ethnography. – 1963 – 236 p.

8. Propp roots of a fairy tale. – L.: Leningrad State University. – 19s.

9. Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary: In 3 volumes - M.: Humanit. ed. VLADOS center: Philol. fak. St. Petersburg state University, 2002. – 704 p.

10. Fairy tale//Fasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. T. 1-4. M., 1964-1973.

11. Skvortsova Russian fairy tale from a psychological point of view // Russian culture of the new century: problems of studying, preserving and using historical and cultural heritage / Ch. editor. Compound. . – Vologda: Book Heritage, 2007. – 708 p.

12. Dictionary of literary terms. – M.: Education, 1974. – 332 p.

13. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language: In 4 volumes / Ed. . - M.: State. Institute "Sov. encycl."; OGIZ; State foreign publishing house and national words, p.

14. Yanichev functions of a fairy tale. - Journal of a practical psychologist, No. 10–11, 199 p.

12. http://www. teremok. in/narodn_skazki/russkie_skazki/russkie_ckazki. htm

13. http://old. vn. ru

Literary analysis of Russian folk tale

A fairy tale is a wonderful work of art, familiar to each of us since childhood.
What is a fairy tale? Should any fantastic story be considered a fairy tale or should oral folk prose be divided into fairy-tale and non-fairytale? How to interpret all those fantastic things that none of the fairy tales can do without? This range of problems has long worried researchers.
There are different interpretations of the tale. Some scientists say that a fairy tale is an absolute fiction, independent of reality, while others strive to understand how the attitude of folk storytellers to the surrounding reality was reincarnated in fairy-tale fiction.
The clearest definition of a fairy tale is given by the famous scientist, researcher of fairy tales E. V. Pomerantseva: “A folk tale (or kazka, tale, fable) is an epic oral work of art, predominantly prosaic, magical, of an adventurous or everyday nature with a focus on fiction. The last feature distinguishes a fairy tale from other genres of oral prose: tales, legends and tales, that is, from stories presented by the narrator to listeners as a narration about events that actually took place, no matter how unlikely and fantastic they may be."
The most beloved and widespread fairy tale among people is a fairy tale. Its roots go back to the distant, distant past.
All fairy tales have similar features. In general, all fairy tales are very similar in their construction. The simplest diagram of any fairy tale contains the following points:
* the existence of any prohibition;
* violation of this prohibition by anyone;
* the consequence of this violation, depending on the nature of mythological ideas;
* a story about the hero's practice in magic;
* the result of this practice and, as a consequence, the hero’s return to well-being.
This structure is also characteristic of later fairy tales. They gravitate towards it as their original narrative basis.
At the heart of this type of fairy tale is a wonderful fiction. Any fairy tale cannot do without some kind of miraculous action: sometimes an evil and destructive, sometimes kind and charitable supernatural force intervenes in a person’s peacefully flowing life.
Let's try to understand the origin of fiction in fairy tales using the example of the Russian folk tale "The Frog Princess".
From the first words of its narrative, the fairy tale transports the listener (reader) into a world completely different from the ordinary human world.
It all starts with the father telling his sons to pick up bows and each shoot an arrow in different directions. Where the arrow falls, there the son is destined to take his bride. This episode seems to the modern reader to be a completely illogical fiction. After all, today we do not believe in all kinds of fortune-telling and signs of fate, but in those days it was a way of life for people. This was believed in very distant times, but this belief persisted for quite a long time, and the ancient motif is present in the fairy tale.
The eldest son's arrow fell into the boyar's yard, the middle son's arrow stuck into a merchant's yard, and the youngest son's arrow fell into a swamp, where a frog picked it up. The older brothers did not believe their happiness, and the younger one was overwhelmed by the grief that had happened to him. "How can I live with a frog?" - he said to his father with tears. But fate is fate. The brothers married those whom fate sent them: the eldest - a hawthorn, the middle - a merchant's daughter, and the younger brother - a frog. They were all married as expected, according to the ritual.
Not only was the younger brother destined to live with a frog, but he also did not receive any dowry! And what kind of dowry can a frog have! On the contrary, the brothers benefited greatly from this wedding.
Here you can view the ancient motif of the destitute son, which has acquired a new meaning in this tale. Life situation, described in the fictional narrative, turned out to be slightly changed. From ancient tradition All that remains is the memory that it was always the youngest son who had the hardest time of all.
The imagination of the poets of the past brought to us a picture full of ironic meaning: the wedding of Ivan and the frog bride is underway, which is held near the groom on a platter so that he can lead her by the hand.
The fairy tale especially vividly reflects the hero’s state of mind; every line reveals the person’s experiences.
Full of naive simplicity and psychological clarity are the hero’s heavy thoughts about the will of fate that has fallen on his head in the form of a bug-eyed, green and cold frog wife. “How to live? Living is not crossing a field, not crossing a river!”
However, in the fairy tale the hero is not alone in his misfortune. He and his wife are helped by “nurses” who were once assigned to the frog. This connection with the powerful forces of nature makes the hero of the fairy tale strong and powerful.
The fairy tale says that the youngest son remained faithful to the same ethical standards. He does not seek wealth, does not contradict his father, and marries a simple swamp frog.
Let's take a closer look at the fairy tale characters and compare them with people's beliefs and mythical characters.