our tradition, sustainable. For example, the motifs “The Fox Steals Fish from the Cart” and “The Wolf at the Ice Hole” are always told together.

3.2. Fairy tales

Fairy tales, like all others, differ from animal epics primarily in that their main character is a person. The hero of fairy tales is young: he has reached marriageable age, is full of strength and ready for adulthood. But first he has to endure difficult trials and come into contact with various miraculous powers. Wonderful fiction lies at the heart of fairy tales.

Old Russian pagan priests (astrologers, sorcerers and soothsayers) were called "magi". “To conjure” is to perform witchcraft or fortune telling. This is where “magical” comes from – “wonderful, supernatural.

Scientists called fairy tales “mythical”, “wonderful”, “fantastic”, but the term “magical”, introduced by V. Ya. Propp, is used most often.

The Comparative Index of Plots (CIP) takes into account 225 plots or plot-forming motifs of this genre, the most popular of which have been published in hundreds of variants. Among them: “The Conqueror of the Snake”, “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge”, “Three Underground Kingdoms”, “The Death of Kashchei in the Egg”, “The Miraculous Escape”, “ Animal milk", "Stepmother and Stepdaughter", "Sivko-Burko", "The Little Humpbacked Horse", "Dunno", "Magic Ring".

A fairy tale has its historical roots. Unlike the animal epic, it dates back to a later, agricultural period, reflects new features of everyday life and the already developed worldview of people, their pagan beliefs and rituals.

The agricultural cults of the earth, water, and sun left a deep imprint on the fairy tale. In a fairy tale, in order to be reincarnated, you need hit the damp ground. Diverse magical power water has: it revives the dead, rejuvenates the old, gives sight to the blind, makes the hero strong and his enemy weak. Integral artistic feature genre is the colorful shine of golden objects of the fairy-tale world - in in this case The epithet “golden” refers to the color of the sun.

The golden objects of the fairy tale reveal this meaning in their functions. For example, in the fairy tale "Sivko-Burko" the princess marked her groom golden ring, from whose touch it was like the sun shining on his forehead.

The fairy tale contains various traces of totemistic beliefs. Tales of wonderful brides and grooms are associated with ancient ideas about the totem spouse. The main character often enters into an alliance with a bird bride. An echo of ancient marriage rituals is their first meeting near water: on the shore of the sea, river or lake.

The same situation is constantly repeated: the hero is hiding, at this time three ducks fly in, land on the shore, turn into girls and go for a swim. While they are swimming, the hero steals the clothes (or wings) of one of the girls. Having bathed, the sisters fly away, and she turns to the kidnapper with a ritual challenge: “Answer me,” he says, “who took my wings? If an old man, be my father, and an old woman, be my mother; if a young man, be my dear friend, and a fair maiden, be my sister!” The hero comes out of hiding, and the girl confirms her oath: “Having given my word, I cannot change it; I am going for you, for good fellow, get married!"1

Plot motifs about the miraculous birth of a hero are associated with totemistic beliefs. One of these tales is “Ivan the Bear’s Ear”:

Jiu pop. The priest had a very beautiful butt, and a bear walked around and had his eye on her for three years. On the fourth day he took her away. Here they live, live - a son was born, they named him: Ivan, Bear's Ear. Ivan Bear's Ear is growing by leaps and bounds, and he has grown big and says to his mother: “What is it, mom, we have a furry little boy, but we are not furry?” - “Why, Vanya, we are Russians, and he is a forest beast.” - “Let’s go, mother, to Holy Rus'!”2

The progenitor totem was also a fish. In the fairy tale “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge,” the childless king orders it to be fried and served to the queen. goldenfin pike. The queen ate it, the cook tried one of the feathers, and the cow licked the peelings. As a result, all three gave birth to a hero: voice to voice and hair to hair.

1 Russian folk tales by A.N. Afanasyev... - T. II. – P. 117.

2 Fairy tales and songs of the Belozersky region. Recorded by B. and Yu. Sokolov. – M., 1915. – P. 190.

Especially often, animal totems are wonderful helpers of the hero. They may be related to deceased parents. The orphan girl is helped by a cow (“Stepmother and Stepdaughter”), and Ivanushka is helped by a horse (“Sivko-Burko”).

The horse always accompanies the hero fairy tale. He is associated with the sun and the thirtieth kingdom. A wonderful fairytale horse - in the stars, with a month and the sun, with a golden tail and mane - appears at night and emits a dazzling light.

A wooden toy wheelchair in the shape of a horse, always painted red, was quite widely known among the people. And in the royal life the custom of making a horse for boys was preserved.

When the future Tsar Peter I was one year old, they began to prepare a “funny horse” for him. A horse figurine was cut out of linden wood - such a size that it would fit the prince. The horse was covered with white foal skin and mounted on four iron wheels. They made a saddle, upholstered on white felt with red morocco: silver studs on top, copper studs on the bottom. Buckles and tips for girths were made from silver. Iron stirrups covered with gold and silver sheets were attached to the saddle; A saddle cloth lined with scarlet taffeta was placed under the saddle. The silver and niello bridle was decorated with “stones with emeralds.” There was a silver and gold braid, and a silver paper decorated with precious stones. The prince's toy resembled a fairy-tale horse1.

The “funny horse” prepared the boy for initiation: the ritual of mounting a live horse, which usually took place at the age of seven. Once upon a time it was a military rite, initiation into military rank: in the saddle and with arrows. At the same time, the boy’s hair was cut, which is why the ceremony was called “tonsuring.”

Fairy tales mention a variety of tools: an axe, a plow, a plow, a yoke, a spindle, a spinning wheel, and a weaving mill. They have long been considered sacred, as they were used in the production of food and clothing - everything that comes into contact with the human body. In everyday life they were decorated with magical ornaments, and in fairy tales they turned into wonderful objects: a self-chopping ax, self-assembled tablecloth, golden spindle, magic millstones (grain grinders) - "no matter what you turn, it's all damn and pie." Along with them appears the archaic weapon of hunters - a club: a gilded club worth fifty pounds, a wonderful club.

1 See: Zabelin I. Home life of the Russian people. – T.I.: Home life of the Russian tsars in the XVI-XVII centuries. – Part 2. – M., 1915. – P. 201-202.

Mythological consciousness was based on the idea of ​​immortality and the unity of living beings. Werewolfism is associated with these ideas - poetic device fairy tale Living things can appear in different forms. For example, in the fairy tale "Tricky Science" the motif of "pursuit" plays an important role.

Salvation." Two lines of reincarnation develop in it: the sorcerer and his student1.

In East Slavic fairy tales, the image of Baba Yaga is of particular importance. It dates back to the era of matriarchy and much of it remains mysterious (for example, there are several assumptions, but there is no convincing explanation for the name “Yaga”). To Yaga at her call Every animal runs, every reptile crawls, every bird flies. She is not only the mistress of living beings, but also the keeper of the fire for the hearth (it is no coincidence that the fairy tale associates utensils with her

- mortar, broom, poker).

ABOUT Baba Yaga's ancient history speaks of the duality of her properties: she can be both a helper and an adversary. Yaga shows the way to the Kashcheevo kingdom, from her the hero receives wonderful objects and a magic horse. At the same time, Yaga acts as a warrior, avenger, and child abductor. In tribal society, Yaga personified mother-ancestor, and the fairy tale emphatically exaggerates her feminine characteristics, although, due to the fall of the cult, she does this with mockery: “Yaga Yaginishna, Ovdotya Kuzminishna is sitting, nose to the ceiling, tits across the threshold, snot across the garden bed, raking up soot with her tongue.” 2 .

The motif of the hero's meeting with Baba Yaga's hut is known from many fairy tales. V. Ya. Propp explained its origin in connection with the initiation rites of the clan society, by which young men who had reached maturity were initiated into hunters (warriors), and girls were accepted into the circle of mothers3. The rituals were based on an imaginary death, when a person supposedly visited the kingdom of the dead and acquired miraculous properties there, and then was reborn in a new quality. In two books ("Morphology of the Fairy Tale" and "Historical Roots of the Fairy Tale") Propp showed that the uniformity of the plot structure different works This genre corresponds to such rituals of antiquity. Summing up his research, he wrote: “We found that the compositional unity of a fairy tale lies not in some

1 See: for example: Russian folk tales by A.N. Afanasyeva... – T.II. – P. 228.

2 Collection of Great Russian fairy tales from the Russian Archive Geographical Society/ Published by A.M. Smirnov. – Vol. I-II. – M., 1917. – P. 432.

3 Propp V.Ya. Historical roots of fairy tales. – L., 1946. – Chapter III: The Mysterious Forest.

the peculiarities of the human psyche, not in the peculiarities of artistic creativity, it lies in the historical reality of the past. What they tell now was once done, depicted, and what was not done was imagined."

Within the fairy-tale plot, two spaces are clearly distinguished: the human world and the miraculous. distant kingdom, thirtieth state - nothing more than the mythical kingdom of the dead. In the minds of the ancients, it was associated with the sun, so the fairy tale depicts it as golden. In different stories, the wonderful kingdom is located underground, under water, in a distant forest, or on high mountains, in the sky. Therefore, it is very distant from people and moves like the daily movement of the sun. It is there that the hero of a fairy tale goes for wonderful golden wonders and for a bride, and then returns to his home with the spoils. From the real world far away kingdom always separated by some kind of border: a heavy stone, a pillar with an inscription about three roads, a high steep mountain, a fiery river, Kalinov bridge, but especially often - Baba Yaga's hut. V. Ya. Propp came to the conclusion that Yaga

- deceased mother, deceased, guide to the afterlife.

IN In the rituals of ancient people, the hut was a zoomorphic image. The fairytale hut retains the signs of a living creature: it hears words addressed to it ("Hut, hut, turn your back to the forest, turn your front to me"), revo-

she wiggles around, and finally she has chicken legs. The zoomorphic image of a hut is associated with a chicken, and the chicken is in the entire system of ethnography and folklore Eastern Slavs symbolized female fertility. The fairy-tale motif of the meeting with Yaga’s hut conveyed echoes of female initiation.

The hero of a fairy tale goes to another world most often because a woman close to him has been taken there: his fiancee, sister, wife, mother. The plot of the abduction of a woman (the “main plot”) was singled out by V. Ya. Propp as the most typical for the fairy-tale genre. He wrote: “If we could expand the picture of transformations, then we could be convinced that morphologically all these tales can be derived from tales about the abduction of a princess by a snake, from the type that we are inclined to consider the main one”2. Historically, this is associated with actual female sacrifices. The fairy tale, unlike rituals, reflected a more ancient ethnographic reality: it contains a “memory” not of the substitutionary, but of the original sacrifice

1 Propp V.Ya. Historical roots of a fairy tale... - P. 353.2 Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. – 2nd ed. – M., 1969. – P. 103.

The woman herself. But, like rituals, the fairy tale expressed the inevitable progressive desire to overcome this cruel custom, which at a new level of human consciousness has already lost its motivation. The main theme of the tale is the liberation and return of women. A hero-liberator appeared in the fairy tale, with whom its ideology began to be associated. With its ending - a wedding feast - the fairy tale began to poeticize a person’s personal feelings.

The plot of the return of a kidnapped woman is typical of all world folklore. It arose typologically from different nations world as a contrast to the rituals of antiquity, in which there were sacrifices. The main feature of the hero’s mythological enemy is also associated with it - the function of abduction, although this image itself is in the process of historical development changed many times.

Various functions began to be attached to the abduction function. mythological characters, who in ancient times personified the powerful forces of nature and the other world. In the fairy tale “Three Underground Kingdoms” (SUS 301 A, B), the kidnapper is

old man; old grandfather; small person; an old man as long as a fingernail, a beard as long as his elbows, a mustache dragging along the ground, wings lying a mile away. Sometimes he flies in in the form of a bird and, hitting the floor, takes on his own form; in some cases it is simply a bird(Eagle, Voron Voronovich). It also has other names: Whirlwind, Vikhor Vikhorevich, Whirlwind bird, violent whirlwind, unclean spirit. Sometimes he takes the form Snake.

A. N. Afanasyev interpreted the Serpent as “the embodiment of lightning, once brought down... to the hearth”1. V. Ya. Propp saw in it a connection with various elements (fire, water, mountains, heavenly powers) and with the animal world (in particular, with fish). He wrote: “The serpent generally defies any single explanation. Its meaning is diverse and versatile”2. The Fairytale Serpent is fire-breathing and multi-headed; his image is often tripled (Serpent with three, six, nine heads).

Another mythological image is close to the snake - Kashchei the Immortal. Afanasyev wrote: “Kashchei plays the same role as the stingy keeper of treasures and the dangerous kidnapper of beauties as the snake; both of them are equally hostile fairy-tale heroes and freely replace each other..."3 However, unlike the Serpent, Kashchei still

1 Afanasyev A.N. Tree of Life: Fav. Articles. – M., 1982. – P. 261.2 Propp V.Ya. Historical roots of a fairy tale... - P. 257.

3 Afanasyev A.N. Tree of Life... - P. 279.

is thought of as a humanoid creature. He never eats his prey. In addition, the image of Kashchei does not receive triplings. The word "koschey" was borrowed from nomads; it was freely used in the Old Russian language in the meaning of "captive, slave." The fairy tale features an image of Kashchei in captivity (“The Death of Kashchei by Horse”), so we can assume that his name was originally an epithet.

The hero's fantastic opponents are also Sea king, Chu- pre-Yudo. Often the enemy acts as a pursuer, which is especially characteristic of the image of the “flying” Yaga: Baba Yaga is catching up with them on an iron mortar, driven by a copper pusher 1 .

The origin of this type of Yaga is revealed if we compare different versions of the fairy tale “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge” (SUS 300 A). In the fairy tale there is a motive for chasing the fleeing hero. As A. N. Afanasyev noted, it goes back to the myth of a cloud swallowing the sun. The pursuer acts primarily as a scavenger with an open mouth, into which the hero throws horses, falcons, and dogs; she swallows his brothers too - and continues the chase.

The image of the pursuer has undergone transformation. Its initial appearance is a huge cloud: A cloud comes and flutters its mouth from the sky to the ground... 2 Then the cloud became a Snake, an enraged avenger, the mother of three Snakes killed by the hero in a duel. But the swallowing function led to the fact that it could simply be mouth gaping from earth to sky 3, or the pig is the most voracious animal: opened my mug from the ground to heaven4. The defeated pursuer turns into water, fire, ashes, dust, dirt - A defeated cloud could turn into all this in myth.

Even later, the Mother Snake began to be replaced by the image of Yaga. This became possible because over time (under the influence of Christianity) it intensified negative characteristic Yagi, but her maternal essence was very firmly held in memory. However, Yaga initially retained the signs of a cloud absorber: Baba Yaga launched one lip under heavens, drags another on the ground 5. Thus the design took place

1 Great Russian fairy tales in the notes of I.A. Khudyakova. – M.; L., 1964. – P. 74.

2 Collection of Great Russian fairy tales from the archives of the Russian Geographical Society... - P. 518.3 Russian folk tales A.N. Afanasyeva... – T.I. – P. 234.

4 Fairy tales and songs of the Belozersky region... - P. 59.

5 Fairy tales, proverbs, etc., recorded in the Ekaterinoslav and Kharkov provinces. I.I. Manzhuroy. – T.II. – issue 2. – Kharkov, 1890. – P. 26 (The quote is given in translation.

the second, completely negative type of “flying” Yaga. And after that, the motif “Escape from the Witch” (SUS 313 N*) emerged as an independent motif and became widespread in various fairy tales. Throwing horses, dogs, bags of salt, loaves of bread, etc. into the mouths. was replaced in it by throwing wonderful objects: a comb that turns into a dense forest; a pebble that grows into a huge mountain; a towel that spills into a river (sometimes a fiery one). Yaga dies in her water or fire.

The genre form of the fairy tale was determined in folklore quite late, only after the decline of the mythological worldview. At this time, new problems generated by the collapse of clan society became relevant. Among the Eastern Slavs, life took the form of a patriarchal family. The relationships between its members and the contradictions between them formed the basis of the second conflict layer of the plots of fairy tales. A new conflict has been layered on top of the ancient, mythological one. A destitute and innocently persecuted family member became a hero: a younger brother, a younger sister, a stepdaughter. Appeared new group his opponents, also real: older brothers, older sisters, stepmother. By using magical powers the fairy tale began to endow its hero with wealth and happiness, and punish his persecutors - and this became its ideological pathos.

Hero of a fairy tale - ordinary person, morally and economically disadvantaged as a result of the historical reorganization of the way of life. The fairy-tale conflict itself is a family one; it is in it that the social nature of the fairy tale genre is revealed. Two conflicts of different historical depth - mythological and family - were united within one genre thanks to the image of the main character, who in all his modifications combines mythological and real (everyday) features.

From mythology, the fairy tale inherited two types of hero: “tall” (hero) and “low” (fool); The fairy tale itself gives rise to the third type, which can be defined as “ideal” (Ivan Tsarevich). A hero of any type, as a rule, is the third, younger brother and goes by the name Ivan. This name itself has developed more than 150 derivative forms, and in the fairy tale it was also supplemented with nicknames (prince, fool, Bear's ear...). Derived from the biblical John, this name was the most common in Rus' for several centuries: every fourth man was called Ivan. And the Ivans were on the Moscow throne for almost a hundred years (Ivan the Terrible was a total of 51 years old, and his grandfather, also Ivan, was 43 years old).

The most ancient type of hero is the hero, miraculously born from a totem. Endowed with enormous physical strength, it expresses the early stage of human idealization. The plot develops around the extraordinary strength of the hero as his main quality, culminating in the hero’s feat in the battle with the Serpent (in fairy tales: “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge”, “The Winner of the Serpent”, “The Serpent Fighter Kozhemyaka”, “Three Underground Kingdoms”, “Ka”) -tigoroshek" etc.).

The image of a fool is typical for the fairy tales “Sivko-Burko”, “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, “Dunno”, “Po pike command". It combines an unsightly appearance and emphasized beauty inner world. In this type of hero, an important ideological setting of the genre is especially noticeable: testing the moral qualities of the person being gifted. The hero of a fairy tale goes through not only fantastic trials, but also through the test of kindness, hard work, responsiveness, patience, courage, and respect for elders. He also passes this test. Philosophical meaning The genre can be defined as follows: empowering the deprived, but worthy.

Particularly characteristic of the fairy tale is Ivan Tsarevich - an image that expressed a new historical stage in the idealization of man. Fairy-tale royalty is the people’s poeticized dream of the utmost possible personal well-being and happiness. But such an idea could only arise in a socially developed society, when the historical idea of ​​kings appeared. The image of Ivan Tsarevich is typical for the plots “The Frog Princess”, “The Copper Forehead”, “ Rejuvenating apples", "Wonderful Children", "The Magic Mirror" ("Dead Princess") and many others. In the later period, the fairy-tale king was sometimes endowed with specific social and historical characteristics, which indicated either the destruction of traditional poetics, or the evolution of the fairy tale into a short story, for example, “Beautiful wife” (“Go there - I don’t know where...”).

A fairy tale knows all three types of protagonist in the female version (Tsar Maiden, princess, stepdaughter). But there are few such stories; the most common are tales about the stepdaughter. The main role of the heroine of a fairy tale is to be an assistant to the groom or husband. Such a plot role coming from ancient custom active behavior of a woman in choosing a groom influenced the content of the image of a fairy-tale princess. She is a sorceress, related to miraculous forces: the solar world (Golden-haired Elena), sea ​​element (Marya Morevna, beautiful princess), the thirtieth kingdom (tsa- jealousy frog).

Her siblings - Wind, Whirlwind and Storm - appear if you blow into a magic horn. But the most valuable thing in the image of a bride is that she is certainly a beauty and a princess. The tale seems to find no words to convey its beauty: “I would have matured, looked, and couldn’t stand it!” Marrying her is the ultimate desire of the hero.

Associated in origin with ancient initiations and with man’s eternal dream of happiness, the fairy tale retains in its depth the vital idea of ​​​​the continuation of the human race. In mythology, the magical call of fertility identified man, plant and fauna, connected all living things on the basis of life. In a fairy tale, its entire wonderful world (animals, plants, giant heroes - Dubynya, Gorynya, Usynya; wonderful artists - Ate, Drink, Frost-crack; wonderful objects) - the whole world is united by a common desire to help the hero, to crown the path of his trials with a wedding feast.

Subject to the established formal laws of the genre, the fairy tale created new wonderful images like artistic embodiment dreams of easier work, material abundance, freedom and happiness. Even without knowing airplanes, trains, cars, television, people in their own way talked about all this in fairy tales. magic carpet, walking boots, mirror - I'll show the whole world And

much more was born as a prediction of the appearance of the future world.

A fairy tale is one of the largest narrative forms of classical folklore. All its plots retain the traditional uniformity of composition: their kingdom - the road, the wine kingdom - the wine kingdom - the road from another kingdom - your own kingdom. According to this narrative logic, a fairy tale combines a chain of motifs into a whole (plot).

In the construction there is a magical fairy tales Traditional stylistics played a certain role: beginnings, endings, as well as internal formulas of a compositional nature. They connected related motives and were especially important in cases where the semantic, logical unity of motives turned out to be weakened: How long, how short..., Soon the fairy tale is told, but the work is done quietly... This role could also be played by a simple repetition of the verb, denoting the hero’s movement in the fairy-tale space: He walked, walked...; They swam, swam in a barrel...

The presence of formulas is a clear sign of the style of a fairy tale. Many formulas are of a figurative nature, associated with wonderful characters, and are their unique markings.

For example, behind the fairy tale “Wonderful Children” there is an image of a cat-bayun, always created by a special formula: By the sea-lukomoriya stands

The origin of fairy tales. Specificity of fiction. Ancient motives. Types of plots. Experience in plot classification. Poetics and style. Composition. Space and time. Style formulas. Contamination. System of images. Themes, images, meaning of the most common fairy tales.

A fairy tale is a story about extraordinary events and adventures involving unrealistic characters. Wonderful, fantastic events take place in it. Fairy tales of this type arose as a result of a poetic rethinking of ancient stories about the observance of taboos - everyday prohibitions on different cases lives created in order to escape the power of a mysterious evil force. There probably once were stories about breaking taboos and the sad events that followed.

In fairy tales we see echoes of prohibitions - eating unknown food or drinking from unknown sources, as well as leaving the house and touching certain objects. Having violated his sister's prohibition, brother Ivanushka drinks water from a goat's hoof print and turns into a goat. Having violated the parents' ban on leaving the house, the sister goes with her little brother to the clearing, and he is carried away by the swan geese to Baba Yaga's hut. Forgetting about the prohibition gray wolf touching the cage of the firebird and the bridle of the golden-maned horse, Ivan Tsarevich gets into trouble.

The fiction of a fairy tale is specific. Everything in it is unusual, and the question of probability and reliability of the story is completely removed. In a fairy tale of this type there are motifs containing belief in witchcraft, in the existence other world and the possibility of returning from there, to werewolfism - the transformation of people into a river or lake, all kinds of animals and even into a church, as, for example, in the fairy tale “Vasilisa the Wise and the Sea King.”

Some fairy tales are associated with mythological ideas. Such characters as Morozko, the Sea or Water King, the wonderful sons-in-law the Sun, the Moon, the Wind or the Eagle, the Falcon and the Raven are clearly associated with the deification of the forces of nature and the veneration of the totemic beast. The cult of ancestors is revealed in the form of a wonderful doll that the dying mother gives to Vasilisa. The doll helps the orphan resist the machinations of her stepmother and saves her from Baba Yaga.

Thus, fairy tales have retained the once real features of long-vanished ideas, life phenomena, traces of human eras experienced, which are now perceived by us as fantasy, fiction. For example, in the images of the wise maidens Vasilisa the Wise, Marya Morevna, Elena the Beautiful, who have supernatural abilities and help the hero, the ideas of the matriarchal era about the superiority of women over men are clearly revealed. Motifs of human sacrifice are visible, for example, in tales of the Snake kidnapping girls; witchcraft and cannibalism - in fairy tales about Baba Yaga. These and other fairy-tale motifs are an echo of a long-forgotten reality, but in fairy tales they are not perceived as a story about the past. They form that wonderful fantasy world, in which fairy-tale heroes live.

The fantasy of fairy tales was also shaped by dreams directed to the future. The fairy tale is ahead of reality. Dreaming of fast movement on earth, a man in a fairy tale creates walking boots. He wants to fly through the air - he creates a flying carpet. He always wants to be full - and in the fairy tale there appears a self-assembled tablecloth, a wonderful mill, a pot that can brew any amount of porridge upon order.

Fairy tales in their plot composition - complex genre. They include heroic tales about the hero’s struggle with enemies, stories about the search for curiosities, getting a bride, stories about a stepdaughter and stepmother, and others. In the index of fairy tale plots by A. Aarne, you can find 144 plots known in Russian fairy tales. In addition, the Russian scientist N.P. Andreev found 38 more subjects unknown to the folklore of other peoples. Russian fairy tale researcher V.Ya. Propp identified the following types of plots:

1. The hero's struggle with a wonderful opponent.

2. Liberation from captivity or witchcraft of the bride (wife) or groom.

3. About a wonderful helper.

4. About a wonderful object that helps the hero achieve his goal.

5. About the miraculous power or unusual skill of the hero.

6. Other types of plots not included in previous sections.

As a rule, the plot of a fairy tale begins with an intriguing plot, an unusual event: for example, in the fairy tale “The Three Kingdoms,” the plot of the fairy tale begins with the fact that a whirlwind flew into the garden where the queen was walking, grabbed her and carried her away to God knows where. The plot emphasizes the unusual nature of what is happening and shows that we will be talking about the wonderful adventures of the heroes. The plot of each fairy tale is unique. Its distinctive feature is its multi-event nature. The tale describes a rather long period in the intense and dramatic life of the hero. The hero of the fairy tale goes through a series of trials and performs difficult tasks.

The same motifs, or the most common episodes, are found in different fairy tales. For example, the motive for excluding the hero from home for any reason, the motive for difficult assignments, the search for a kidnapped wife or bride, competition with the enemy, the motive for escaping from the enemy, the assistance of miraculous helpers or objects. Despite all the differences in plot, the structure of fairy tales is the same: the motives are strictly consistent, each previous motive explains the next one, prepares the main, climactic event. Usually the most significant motif in a fairy tale can be repeated three times. Repetition slows down the plot action, but fixes the listener's attention on an important point.

The composition of the tale can be described as circular and single-line. Conventionally, the sequence of action can be conveyed by a diagram: the hero leaves home to perform feats or for adventures - feats or adventures - return. This creates a closed action, a circular composition. By highlighting the hero at the beginning of the story, the fairy tale connects all actions with him; the entire chain of fairy-tale events relates to him. We will not find a single episode where he would be absent main character. This kind of construction is usually called single-line.

A specific feature of a fairy tale is the depiction of a special fairy-tale space and time in which the hero’s actions take place. Art space the magical-fantastic tale is limited from the real. It is clearly divided into its own - “a certain kingdom, a certain state” in which the hero lives, and someone else’s, another - “a distant kingdom, a certain state” in which the hero undergoes trials and accomplishes feats. The border between them is always some kind of obstacle. It could be dark forest, fiery river, sea, mountain, well, deep hole, which the hero needs to be able to overcome in order to get from “his own” to the “other” kingdom.

The artistic time of a fairy tale is a special fairy-tale time that does not coincide with the real one either in its length or in its character. It is always referred to the indefinitely distant past. It is conditional, unreal. It is never calculated in years, but only in events. The hero of a fairy tale never ages. His life up to the moment he leaves home to carry out his exploits is narrated very briefly. Only from the moment the hero leaves home does the countdown begin and then time is determined only by those events that the fairy tale tells about. Fairytale time always consistently moves forward into the future, never returning to the hero’s past. It is clearly divided into travel time and event time.

To indicate the hero’s time on the road, special artistic formulas are used, for example: “soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done.” Verbs of motion are used that are repeated 2-3 or more times. More repetitions mean longer travel times. “Ivan Tsarevich walks, walks, walks...” means that he walks for a very long time. The length of the journey can be conveyed by the state of fatigue, hunger, thirst, and wear and tear of clothing and shoes.

The world of fairy tale characters is incredibly diverse. The central place in the system of images is occupied by positive heroes, endowed with ideal physical and moral qualities. In turn, they are divided into the following groups: hero-hero, hero-lucky and hero-imaginary fool. The second row consists of the hero’s assistants, with whose assistance he accomplishes his feats and successfully overcomes all obstacles and adventures. The third row is the hero’s enemies or pests with whom he is fighting.

Heroes - heroes are born from a miraculous conception and from infancy are endowed with titanic strength and other supernatural qualities. This type of hero includes Pokatygoroshek, Ivan the Bear's Ear, Ivan Suchic, Ivan the Cow's Son and others. Poppy Pea is born miraculously - from a pea that his mother finds and eats. The time from conception to birth is fantastically reduced. He grows by leaps and bounds; he has extraordinary mental abilities: he begins to speak and reason intelligently while still in the womb. He has superhuman endurance and gigantic strength. He accomplishes great feats, killing a monstrous serpent and freeing his sister and brothers from captivity. This is one of the archaic types of heroes of the East Slavic fairy tale epic; it is based on the cult of plant power.

Ivan - Bear's ear or Medvedko is born as a result of the cohabitation of a woman (sometimes a man) with a bear (she-bear). Outwardly, he is “just like a man, only with bear ears” or “a man from the waist down, but a bear from the waist down.” Like Little Pea, he grows unusually fast, is strong and smart. This is a wild, mischievous nature. As a child, carelessly playing with peers, he injures them. In the image of this hero, heroic and satirical-humorous features merged. In the tales of the bear's son, traces of the cult of the totemic beast are visible.

The hero is a lucky man (usually his name in fairy tales is Ivan Tsarevich, Ivan peasant son) unlike hero-hero does not possess titanic strength, although he is strong and dexterous, often handsome: “a handsome man, he will look like a falcon, he will stand like a lion - a beast, it is impossible to take his eyes off.” But the main thing about him is his high moral qualities, with which he attracts assistants, and they serve him, helping him overcome all obstacles. This type of hero embodies the human ideal: he is kind, fair, selfless, honest. Dying of hunger, he spares the animals, enduring need, shares the last piece with the beggar. He unquestioningly fulfills his father’s orders, coming three nights in a row for himself and his older brothers to guard his father’s grave. For each of yours good deed the hero is rewarded with a wonderful horse or a wonderful object.

The imaginary fool is a hero in disguise. In a fairy tale, this is always the third, youngest son in a peasant family (“At the behest of the pike,” “Sivka the Burka,” “The Golden Bristle Pig,” “The Little Humpbacked Horse”). Sometimes this is the only son of a poor widow (“The Magic Ring”), a merchant’s son (“Dunno,” “The Bald Man,” “The Mysterious Knight”). The fool does not have his own family and lives with his brothers, being, as it were, subordinate to their wives, who give him small assignments. The fairy tale never shows him as a participant in important economic and family affairs. He may be sent to the river for water or to the forest for firewood, or sent on guard duty. But they are never sent to plow, sow or trade.

He may seem lazy and inactive. Usually he is not busy with anything: he sits on the stove or in a corner behind the stove, sorting through the stove ash, which is perceived by others as stupidity. However, this is precisely what distinguishes the fool as a special hero. Furnace (ash and ashes) in folk mythology tied to the spirits of the house and the cult of ancestors. The fool is connected with another world, the laws of which differ from the laws of the real world, and is under its special protection.

Being in a dependent position on family members, sometimes enduring hunger and deprivation, the fool does not seek to change his unenviable position. Therefore, Emelya, having received a wonderful opportunity from the pike - to command, does not use it to acquire material wealth and power, but uses it so as not to waste time on boring everyday affairs: he makes buckets go to the hut, a sleigh go to the forest, an ax to chop wood - he supposedly laziness. But his laziness is imaginary, for as soon as the hour strikes, there will be no trace of this laziness left: Ivan the Fool will ride on a horse, getting the bride’s ring, Emelya will erect a huge bridge with a crystal palace on the beautiful island. At the right moment, the fool will begin to show extraordinary cunning and ingenuity, which he completely lacks in everyday life.

He is not endowed from birth with either physical strength or beauty. Outwardly, he may look dirty, downtrodden and insignificant, unsightly. But the fairy tale never talks about his physical disabilities, short stature or external ugliness. Usually his ugliness is due to the fact that he is deliberately unkempt: dirty, unwashed, stained with soot, dressed in rags. In this form, for the amusement of his brothers, he can go on a thin horse to a banquet in the royal palace, while the brothers dress up in the best clothes and ride on good horses.

His impracticality seems stupid to those around him. Emelya releases the caught pike into the river, instead of boiling it and eating to his fill (“By pike command"). A fool does not know the value of money. Vanka, the widow's son, spends his last pennies intended for food, and even gives his last jacket to ransom animals doomed to death (“The Magic Ring”). Ivan, the merchant’s son, is nursing a freezing foal covered with scabs (“Dunno”). The strange (from the point of view of others) impracticality of a fool, upon closer examination, turns out to be his advantage: pity and kindness towards the weak and defenseless.

Thanks to his humane attitude towards animals, selflessness, strict fulfillment of his father’s behests, moral superiority over his enemies and ill-wishers, he acquires loyal friends and helpers who help him acquire such treasures and benefits that his practical and active brothers never dreamed of. The fairy tale rewards kindness with goodness, and over time the imaginary fool becomes a handsome man, performs heroic deeds (frees the kingdom from enemies) or builds palaces, plants beautiful gardens, and then marries the king’s daughter and inherits the kingdom.

Unfairly persecuted heroines - sufferers - can act as heroes of a fairy tale. Most often these are “orphans”: Cinderella, sister Alyonushka, Kroshechka - Khavroshechka, Vasilisa, Bezruchka. Fairy tales emphasize external beauty, but kindness, modesty, gentleness, obedience, patience, humility, hard work and other qualities characteristic of a Christian woman. They are exhausted by their evil stepmother (“Cinderella”) with backbreaking work, they suffer from hunger, cold, dress in rags, they do not hear a kind word from anyone. They are slandered and contrasted with their own daughters. An orphan has no right to vote in his own defense. She has no one to complain about her hard life, there is no one to cry out your grief to. However, the sorrows of orphans in the fairy tale are temporary, and their suffering is purifying. In addition, the orphan has many helpers.

The hero's assistants in fairy tales are varied. Most often, the hero’s first assistant and friend is a woman: his wife, fiancee, mother or sister. These can be both sorceresses and princesses: Marya the Princess, Nastasya Korolevichna, Marya Morevna, Varvara the Beauty, the Golden Braid, Elena the Beautiful, Vasilisa the Wise - assistants with wonderful abilities, wisdom and beauty. Fairy-tale heroines are such beauties that “they cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor described with a pen.”

Most of them have unusual abilities because connected with another world, they can be daughters or relatives of powerful forces of nature. For example, Marya Morevna is the daughter of the Sea King. Vasilisa the Wise may be the daughter of Koshchei the Immortal or the Serpent. Sometimes the assistant can be Baba Yaga's daughter. They carry out all sorts of difficult tasks for the hero, saving him from dangers.

The images of wonderful helpers in a fairy tale are varied, and their functions correspond to their names: Matchmaker-Mind, a powerful invisible person who carries out all the orders of the hero in the fairy tale “Go there - I don’t know where, bring that - I don’t know what.” The hero’s assistants can be the oncoming heroes endowed with unusual properties, personifying the powerful forces of nature: Gorynya or Gor - Gorovik (“upends mountains, throws them from handle to handle”), Dubynya or Dub - Dubovik (uproots mighty oaks), Usynya, blocking with his with a mustache of the river: “Usynets, a hero, closes the river with his mustache, and catches fish with his mouth,” A fast walker who walks on one leg, and the other is tied to his ear, since on two legs he “could step over the whole world in one step.” This gallery of helpers is continued by Hearer, Drinker, Eater, Good from dogs, Good from fire, etc.

Sometimes Baba Yaga acts as the hero's assistant. She gives him good advice, a magical horse of unusual power, and hands over wonderful objects: a ball showing the hero the way to his goal, an invisibility hat, running boots, etc. She lives in “the thirtieth kingdom, beyond thirty lakes, where even a crow does not bring a Russian bone.” Many fairy-tale attributes indicate that the image of Baba Yaga is the embodiment of the deceased ancestor. Her hut on chicken legs is reminiscent of an ancient type of burial in small structures built from wood on pillars. Some tales say that it is fenced with a tine with skulls on stakes (it’s like a grave in the center of a large burial).

Usually Baba Yaga lies motionless “on the stove, on the ninth brick, her nose has grown into the ceiling” or drives around the hut in a mortar. She is ugly, ugly, she has a bone leg. V.Ya. Propp believes that Baba Yaga’s “bone-footedness” also indicates that this is an image of a dead man. She does not see the hero, but recognizes his approach by smell. This also brings the image of Baba Yaga closer to a dead person whose eyes are always closed. She becomes the hero's assistant in cases where he is related to her on his wife's side. It can be assumed that the image of Baba Yaga the Helper embodies the veneration of deceased relatives, whose mercy and help a person sought to receive.

Helpers can be animals: horse, cow, wolf, bear, dog, cat, snake, falcon, raven, drake, duck, eagle, pike. Insects (bees, ants) also help the hero. Various magical objects and curiosities also act as assistants. One of the groups of such helpers is “inexhaustible” wonderful objects: a “sambrance tablecloth”, a “jug of forty horns”, from which various drinks and dishes appear, a “shaker purse”; the other group is “self-acting” objects: “flying carpet”, “fleet boots”, “self-fighting baton”, “self-acting harp”.

Some magical objects have the ability to hide and, at the right moment, release young fellows who help the hero: “bag - give me some wisdom,” a wonderful casket, etc. The “invisible hat,” a magic ball that indicates the right way. The hero is helped by living and dead water, which increases or decreases strength, potions (“sleeping potion”), pins, a comb and other objects that have the property of putting people to sleep. Often found in fairy tales are wonderful objects that have magical power turn into powerful obstacles for the hero’s pursuers: a towel - into a river, lake, sea, a ridge - into a dense forest, mountains.

Helpers in fairy tales about orphans are good sorceresses who replace them deceased mother(“Cinderella”), a magic doll left to an orphan by a dying mother (“Vasilisa the Wise and Baba Yaga”), a cow (“Kroshechka-Khavroshechka”). And, as a late phenomenon of the Christian period, in fairy tales - Holy Mother of God, healing the heroine and helping to restore justice (“Bezruchka”).

The hero's opponents are conventionally divided by researchers into two groups: monsters of the “other” kingdom and enemies of “their” kingdom. The first include "Oh" - a skilled sorcerer and werewolf, "He's as tall as a fingernail, with a beard as long as an elbow" - an evil dwarf of Russian fairy tales, an ungrateful and daring creature, possessing exorbitant physical strength, despite his short stature. Baba Yaga, a sorceress, evil adviser, warrior, cannibal and child abductor, can also act as an enemy. In the image of Yaga, the hero’s opponent, one can discern the ideas of ancient people about a foreign, hostile dead body taken as a hostage.

The most common image in a fairy tale is the Serpent (Mountain Serpent) - a huge multi-headed monster with three, six, nine, twelve or more heads, aggressive towards the hero. He can live in water, mountain or the underground kingdom. He devours people, kidnaps girls (echoes of cult sacrifices), and less often, kidnaps heavenly bodies (echoes of ancient myths). Kashchei the Immortal (Kosh, Karachun) is a traditional image of the kidnapper of women in Russian fairy tales. He kidnaps the hero's mother or fiancee. You can kill him only after learning the secret of his death: “There is an oak tree, under the oak tree there is a box, in the box there is a hare, in the hare there is a duck, in the duck there is an egg, in the egg is my death.” This is the most common story about the “death of Kashchei in an egg.”

The opponents of “their” kingdom are the evil stepmother-witch, the king, the royal sons-in-law, and sometimes occupying a higher place social status the hero's bride or wife who wants to kill him. The hero's struggle with the enemy helps to see his character and becomes a means of revealing ideological content fairy tales A special place among these images is occupied by the image of the stepmother and her own daughters. Usually, after the death of his first wife, the old man marries a second time.

The stepmother in a fairy tale is always presented in contrast to her own mother; she is never kind, she always hates her stepdaughter or her husband’s children from his first marriage. The reasons may be different. Most often, daughters' stepmothers in fairy tales are ugly, lazy, arrogant; they are contrasted with the beauty and moral qualities of an orphan. Sometimes the stepmother acts as a stupid, grumpy woman who cannot please her stepdaughter. Very often she is portrayed in fairy tales as an evil witch who tries to destroy stepchildren, turns them into birds and drives them away. In the fairy tale, the stepmother is always punished. Her own daughter returns ashamed (toads jump out of her mouth at every word) or they bring her remains - with her rude behavior she brought death upon herself. At the same time, the stepdaughter receives a rich dowry and marries a fairy-tale prince.

A fairy tale has its own specific structure. Unlike other types of fairy tales, it has sayings, beginnings and endings. Sayings are rhythmic and rhyming jokes that are not related to the plot. Their goal is to concentrate, attract the attention of listeners, and set them in a special mood. The joke is told smartly and contains humor: “The fairy tale begins from Sivka, from Burka, from Kaurka’s things. On the sea, on the ocean, on an island on Buyan, there is a baked bull with crushed garlic in his butt. Cut on one side, dip and eat on the other.” The saying is found only in the tales of experienced, skilled storytellers and quite rarely. More often than not, a fairy tale begins with a beginning that takes the listener from the real to the special. fairy world, introduces the scene and characters. The most common opening: “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a king...” or: “Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman, they had three sons,” or briefly: “Once upon a time... ."

The fairy tale ends with endings that are also humorous in nature, their purpose is to close the fairy tale, relieve attention and return listeners to the real world, make them smile and even laugh, draw attention to the storyteller in order to receive gratitude, a gift or a treat. The most traditional: “This is the end of the fairy tale, and whoever listened, well done. A fairy tale for you, and knitting bagels for me.” Sometimes the storyteller turns out to be a guest wedding feast, completing the plot: “And I was there, drinking honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth. They gave me a pancake, but even that one rotted.” The endings don't always happen. Most often, the fairy tale ends with the formula: “They began to live and live well and make good money.” Or: “It’s all a fairy tale, you can’t lie anymore.”

In fairy tales, there are often repeated poetic cliches - traditional formulas common to different plots and text variants. We have already talked about artistic formulas depicting time and space. In addition, fairy tales use formulas to describe the beauty of heroes: “neither can be said in a fairy tale, nor described with a pen,” a formula depicting the rapidity of the hero’s growth: “grows by leaps and bounds.” In many fairy tales there is an appeal-spell to a magic horse: “Sivka-burka, prophetic kaurka, stand in front of me like a leaf in front of the grass.” A popular spell is cast by the hero of Baba Yaga’s rotating hut, into which he must enter: “Hut-hut, stand in the old way, as your mother put it - with your back to the forest, with your front towards me,” etc.

Fairy tales have a unique language and poetic style. Previously, they used to say not to tell, but to tell a fairy tale, because the storyteller’s speech during performance was significantly different from everyday speech. IN poetic language fairy tale, we note the tendency to use phrases formed from synonyms and cognate words. Synonymy enhances the brightness and expressiveness of the depicted persons and events: “The sea was churned, the sea was shaken,” “Sadness and melancholy came over the queen,” “Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,” “The mountain began to grieve,” “He makes bad jokes.”

Proverbs, sayings, phraseological units characteristic of colloquial everyday language are introduced into the speech of the characters: “I took up the tug, don’t say that it’s not strong,” “Come on, a dog’s death is a dog’s death,” “They sat down at the table, and where did that come from?” .

Of the verbal and visual means, the fairy tale most often resorts to epithets. The traditional epithet some kingdom, some state - emphasizes the uncertainty of the place of action. Such constant epithets as self-assembled tablecloth, living water, harp and harp denote properties hidden in objects. An epithet can determine the hero's class affiliation or position in the family. For example: Ivan is a prince, Ivan is a peasant’s son, Ivan is a cow’s son, Ivan is the youngest son, etc. Epithets can emphasize high degree qualities of a person or object: Vasilisa the Wise, immeasurable strength, dense forest. Evaluative epithets are used: sad thought, lousy horse, unclean spirit.

Fairy tales often use comparisons in simple or extended form. Thanks to comparisons, the actions of the heroes stand out, the emotional effect is enhanced: “It is not clear that the falcon swoops down on a flock of geese, swans and gray ducks, Ivan Tsarevich attacks the enemy’s army,” “They were carried away like violent whirlwinds onto the wide Okiyan Sea,” “ As soon as they hit the battle clubs, thunder roared.”

Fairy tales are distinguished from others by the special nature of their fiction. Supernatural forces are always at work in them - sometimes good, sometimes evil. They work miracles: they raise people from the dead, they turn a person into an animal or a bird. There are also terrible monsters: Koschey the immortal, Baba Yaga, the fiery serpent, and wonderful objects: a flying carpet, an invisible hat, walking boots.

People began to create fairy tales, just like tales about animals, in ancient times. He could not explain many natural phenomena and could not control them. Since the origin of the phenomena was not clear, people attributed them to supernatural power. There were beliefs in witches and sorcerers who could work miracles by knowing the spell words. These same magical powers (just maybe in a different form) also exist in fairy tales. The people in those distant times believed in magical things and objects: a ring, an ax, a belt, a scarf, a mirror, an apple.

And how many fairy tales are based on belief in the magical power of words!

Later people many phenomena were realized, the connection between the fairy tale and ritual magic was lost. At the same time, people's poetic imagination grew. There was a lot I wanted to be able to do, but the real possibilities did not allow me to do it. The dream found scope in fairy tales. Man dreamed of subjugating the forces of nature, building beautiful palaces, moving quickly, living long, and always being well-fed.

A. M. Gorky speaks of the fantasy of fairy tales in the following way: “There is nothing in the world that cannot be instructive - there are no fairy tales that do not contain the material of “didactics”, teaching. What is most instructive in fairy tales is “fiction” - the amazing ability of our thoughts to look far ahead of the fact...”

A. M. Gorky’s idea about the creative basis of fairy tales was repeatedly emphasized by many Soviet folklore researchers. “Fairy tales,” writes V.P. Anikin, “are a kind of ideological, aesthetic and ethical code of the people; moral and aesthetic concepts and ideas of the working people, their aspirations and expectations are embodied here. Fairy-tale fiction reflects the features of the people who created it. The joyful and bright fiction reflects the people’s faith in victory over the black forces of death, destruction, and faith in social justice.”

In books to read in I-III grades such magical folk tales as “The Snow Maiden”, “Geese-Swans”, “Seven Simeons”, “Everyone Got His Own”, “The Wonderful Apple Tree”, “The Bird Kahka” and some others are presented.

Fairy tales also include “The Tale of the Goldfish” by A. S. Pushkin and “Hot Stone” by A. P. Gaidar.

In each of these fairy tales, the heroes resort to the help of objects or living creatures that have unusual, magical powers. In the fairy tale “Geese and Swans”, such helpers for the girl Masha were the stove, the apple tree and the milk river - the banks of jelly. The birch bark horn of Simeon the Younger, the golden arrow of Simeon the shooter, and Simeon the grain grower could plow sea sand, sow rye, harvest crops, and bake bread for the whole journey in one hour (the tale “Seven Simeons”) have unusual properties. As soon as the old lady clapped her hands, two chests full of precious stones. “The old woman waved her hand, the Apple tree moved, shook off the roots from the ground and went to fetch the shepherd.” And the old man from the fairy tale “Everyone Got His Own” only had to say a few words to the poor woman so that she would spend the whole day measuring the canvas that came from nowhere.

The specificity of fairy tales, as noted above, is that unusual transformations take place in them, implausible forces act, etc. Therefore, when analyzing such fairy tales, only clarification of the direction of magical forces will be specific (who they help and why, how this characterizes fairy tale heroes, etc.). Otherwise, the analysis of the tale will be carried out in the same way as the analysis of the story.

A special place among this group of fairy tales is occupied by A. Gaidar’s fairy tale “Hot Stone”. The fairy tale is interesting for its clearly expressed social orientation. This is a new, our, Soviet fairy tale. Its content is close to the story. Only the episode with the stone is fabulous.

The fairy tale brings up a complex philosophical question for discussion: what is the meaning of life, what is a person’s happiness? Representatives of two generations: the older one, who fought for the establishment of Soviet power in our country, and the very young one, who is just starting to study at school, present the answer to this difficult question to the reader. The author gives each of them the opportunity to speak; and not only speak out, but also prove your approach in practice. To do this, the author creates a fairy-tale situation: break the stone and you can start life over again. Indeed, this is only possible in a fairy tale. Starting to live again means (as in any matter) that life did not give a person anything good, he was unable to live it with dignity, there were many mistakes and the main thing was not found. What is the main thing? What constitutes the core of a real, worthy human life? This brings together two questions, equally important and at the same time very close, interacting with each other. The author gives the answer to them by the very development of the plot, by the old man’s story about his life, by revealing his understanding of happiness.

Example modern fairy tale with a pronounced social orientation is “The Tale of Three Letters” by Yu. Fuchik and B. Silov. When analyzing this type of fairy tale, the focus should be on revealing its real basis and idea. The analysis of such a tale comes as close as possible to the analysis of a story. Great place is devoted to clarifying specific events and the attitude of the actors towards them. “The ship is sinking! People are calling for help!” - this is the main event that forms the thematic basis of the fairy tale. A rich man, a large stockbroker, a carpenter, a mechanic, a chimney sweep and other representatives of poor, ordinary people react differently to a distress signal. The rich do not care whether the sailors of the Batayava die or not. Ordinary people on the shore they are unable to help the dying ship, although they passionately want to do this. The Soviet ship Kyrgyzstan comes to the rescue. The sailors from the ship "Batayava" were rescued. “And it should always be like this” - the fairy tale ends with these words. Working people will always come to the aid of their comrades - this is the idea of ​​the fairy tale. From the point of view of students’ awareness of this idea, the teacher organizes all work on the fairy tale.

A fairy tale is a miracle! A wonderful world, familiar from childhood, where good always triumphs over evil. On the pages fairy tale books there live talking animals and dragons, brave heroes and beautiful princesses, good fairies and evil sorcerers. Fairy tales encourage not only to believe in miracles, but also teach kindness, compassion, not giving in to difficulties, listening to parents and not judging others by appearance.

What kind of fairy tales are there?

A fairy tale is a story with fictional characters and a plot that is of an everyday, heroic or magical nature. They are folklore (composed by the people), literary (include features of folk tales, but belong to one author) and author's (written by one specific author). Folklore tales are divided into magical, everyday and about animals.

Folklore

They go a long way before reaching the reader. They are passed down orally from generation to generation until some collector of legends writes them down on paper. It is believed that the heroes of the first stories were the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and others natural phenomena, and images of people and animals began to be used later.

Folk tales have a fairly simple structure: a saying, a beginning and an end. The text is easy to read and does not contain difficult words. But despite its apparent simplicity, it retains all the richness of the Russian language. Folklore tales are easily understood even by children, which makes them best choice for reading before bed. This will not only prepare the child for sleep, but also unobtrusively teach life values.

The main features of a fairy tale:

1. Fairy-tale cliches “Once upon a time,” “In a certain kingdom.”
2. Use of proverbs and sayings.
3. Obligatory victory of good in the final.
4. The tests that the heroes go through are educational and moral in nature.
5. The animals saved by the hero help him get out of difficult situations.

Household

The action takes place in everyday life, not “in the distant kingdom,” but an ordinary city or village. The life of that time, features and habits are described. The heroes are the poor and merchants, spouses, soldiers, servants and masters. The plot is based on ordinary life situations and conflicts that the heroes have to resolve with the help of skill, ingenuity and even cunning.

Everyday tales they ridicule human vices: greed, stupidity, ignorance. The main message of such stories is that one should not be afraid of work, not be lazy and confidently overcome obstacles. Treat others kindly, be responsive to the grief of others, do not lie or be stingy. For example, “Porridge from an axe,” “Turnip,” “Seven-year-old daughter.”

About animals

Often the characters are animals. They live and communicate like people, talk and play pranks, quarrel and make peace. There is no clear character among the characters division into positive and negative heroes . Each of them is endowed with one distinctive feature, which is played out in the plot of the fairy tale. A cunning fox, an angry wolf, a hardworking hare, and a wise owl. Such images are understandable to children and give ideas about intelligence and stupidity, cowardice and courage, greed and kindness.

Magical

What is a fairy tale? This mysterious world, filled with magic and enchantment. Where animals, nature and even objects can speak. The composition is more complex, it includes an introduction, a plot, a central plot, a climax and a denouement. The plot is based on overcoming a difficult situation or regaining a loss. For example, “Morozko”, “Finist Clear Falcon”, “Cinderella”.

The world of characters is incredibly diverse. G great heroes have everything positive qualities, that is, such as kindness, generosity, responsiveness, courage. They are opposed by evil, greedy and selfish negative heroes. In the fight against enemies, the positive heroes are helped by wonderful helpers and magical objects. The ending is certainly happy. The hero returns home with honors, having overcome all adversity and obstacles.

Literary

Has a specific author, but is closely related to folklore. A literary fairy tale reflects the author's view of the world, his ideas and desires, while folk tales demonstrate generalized values. The writer empathizes with the main characters, expresses sympathy for individual characters and openly ridicules the negative characters.

Plots are often the basis folk tales.

• the hero’s belonging to the world of magic;
• hostility between adoptive parents and children;
• the hero is helped by nature, living creatures and magical attributes.

To imitate folk tales, the same principles are applied: fairy-tale setting, talking animals, triplicate repetitions and vernacular. The images of the main characters of folk tales are often used: Ivan the Fool, Baba Yaga, Tsar Koschey and others. The author strives for greater detail, characters and personal qualities The characters are described in detail, the environment is close to reality, and two generations are always present: the older (parents) and the younger (children).

To striking examples literary fairy tale can be attributed to the work of A. Pushkin “Golden Fish”, G. Andersen “ Snow Queen" and C. Perrault "Puss in Boots".

Whatever the fairy tale, its goal is to teach a child not to despair, to boldly take on tasks, and to respect other people’s opinions. Looking at the bright illustrations, it’s easy to come up with your own plot based on an already familiar story. Even an adult will benefit from breaking away from the usual cycle of days and immersing himself in beautiful world magic.