Characteristics of fairy-tale heroes of Russian fairy tales. Heroes of Russian folk tales - detailed description: collective images and individual characteristics

Fairy tales shape the thinking, fantasy and worldview of many generations. Fairy tales not only entertained us as children, but the actions of the heroes of Russian fairy tales taught us to distinguish between good and evil, to be brave and to act justly.

At the same time, fairy tales reflect different beliefs, views and ideas of the people at different times. During its development, the fairy tale changed significantly, and its functions also changed. If it was initially used for a magical incantatory purpose (to summon good luck in a hunt, to protect oneself from enemies or to ensure victory in battle), then over time, having lost its ritual meaning, the tale acquired an aesthetic, educational or entertaining character.

Fairy-tale characters also remained conventional. They are types, not individuals, and therefore are described in general outline, are often idealized, exalted, and exaggerated. The main images here are always antagonistic: one embodies the good, the beautiful; the other is evil forces. Hence their characteristics - actions, actions, intentions, language. According to their functions, the heroes of Russian fairy tales are conventionally divided into do-gooders, evil-doers and the disadvantaged.

Most large group fabulous folk epic make up magical, fantastic tales. Explanation of many motives and features fairy-tale heroes can be found only in comparison with ancient rituals, elements of the socio-religious way of life of the Proto-Slavs and ancient Eurasians. Let's try to analyze some of the most famous characters in Russian fairy tales.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is a character from Slavic mythology and folklore. Usually an ugly old woman, endowed with magical power and magical items. Often a witch, sorceress. More often - negative character(luring children and good fellows into her hut on chicken legs to eat), but sometimes acts as the hero’s assistant. According to folklore specialist Vladimir Propp, three types of Baba Yaga can be distinguished in fairy tales: the giver (gives the main character a fairy-tale horse), the kidnapper of children and the warrior (she fights with the main character “to the death”).

In modern ideas, Baba Yaga is the mistress of the forest and the guardian of the borders of the “other world” (far away kingdom). That's why she has a bone leg - to stand in the world of the dead. In many fairy tales, Baba Yaga heats the bathhouse and vaporizes the hero, performing the ritual of ablution. Then he feeds him, that is, he performs a funeral feast with him. And the female image of Baba Yaga itself is associated, according to researchers, with matriarchal ideas about the structure of the social world.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Water

IN Slavic mythology- a spirit that lives in water, the owner of water, the embodiment of the element of water as a negative and dangerous principle. He appears before us in the form of an obese old man, goggle-eyed, with a fish tail. He has a huge beard and mustache, sometimes fish-like features, webbed paws and a horn on his head. Lives in whirlpools and whirlpools, but especially loves water mills. Therefore, the millers cajoled them in every possible way, and also buried a live black rooster or other security attributes under the log where the door to the mill would be. Vodyanoy is often associated with the king of the sea.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Firebird

A fairytale bird is usually the target of a search for a fairy tale hero. The feathers of the firebird glow and amaze with beauty. Lives in the Garden of Eden, in a golden cage. He eats golden apples, heals the sick with his singing and restores sight to the blind. At a deep mythological level, he is the personification of fire, light and sun. Therefore, every year in the fall the Firebird dies and is reborn in the spring. At the cross-cultural level, it has an analogue - the Phoenix bird, reborn from the ashes.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Dragon

A fire-breathing dragon with several heads, the personification of evil in fairy tales and epics. He usually lives in the mountains, near a fiery river and guards the “Kalinov Bridge”, through which one enters the kingdom of the dead. The number of heads of the Serpent-Gorynych is usually three (3, 6, 9 or 12). In fairy tales, the element of fire is usually associated with the serpent. The Serpent-Gorynych kidnaps girls (often princesses) to feast on them. After this, the main characters come to him for a duel, first killing his viper cubs.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Ivan the Fool

A very popular image in mythology, which, when solving problems, is guided by its own, non-standard solutions, often contrary to common sense, but bringing success. The designation “fool” is interpreted in different ways. Some researchers consider this a talisman against the evil eye. According to another version, Ivan is called a fool, since usually in fairy tales he is the third son, who is not entitled to a share of the parental inheritance (hence the ability to think outside the box, find a way out difficult situations). Etymologically, the image of Ivan the Fool is connected with the image of the priest, because he can sing and play the different instruments, and also speaks in riddles. At the end of the fairy tales, Ivan the Fool receives wealth and a princess as his wife.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Cat Baiyun

A huge cannibal cat with a magical voice. On the one hand, he charms and lulls travelers with his tales, on the other, his tales can heal. The word “bayun” itself means “talker, storyteller.” In fairy tales, Cat Bayun sits on a high pillar far away in the thirtieth kingdom or in a lifeless forest where there are no animals. In one of the fairy tales, he lives with Baba Yaga.

Catching the Cat Bayun is usually a test for the main character, who catches him wearing an iron cap and iron gloves. But the captured Cat Bayun then serves at the royal court, healing the sick with his stories.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Kolobok

A fairy-tale character in the form of spherical wheat bread, who runs away from grandparents, from various animals, but in the end is eaten by a fox. This character clearly personifies the reverent attitude of the Slavic people to bread, and his sacred meaning. Namely, the round shape of the Kolobok, which also rolls, which refers us to the cult of the sun.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Koschey (Kashchei) the Immortal

An evil sorcerer whose death is hidden in several nested magical animals and objects. “On the sea, on the ocean, there is an island, on that island there is an oak tree, under the oak tree there is a chest buried, in the chest there is a hare, in the hare there is a duck, in the duck there is an egg, in the egg there is the death of Koshchei.” Often kidnaps the main character's fiancee. In appearance - a thin (Koschei - from the word “bone”) tall old man or a living skeleton. Sometimes on a talking and flying horse. A powerful sorcerer, which also allows us to call priests his prototypes.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Goblin

The master spirit of the forest in Slavic mythology. Its appearance can be different, even the opposite breeds in different fairy tales- sometimes he is small, sometimes a giant, sometimes an anthropomorphic creature, sometimes he has an animal appearance. In any case, its nature is otherworldly. People's attitude towards him is also ambivalent. On the one hand, they are afraid of him, he can make a person get lost, sometimes he plays pranks, and he can punish for inappropriate behavior in his domain. At the same time, it is the Leshy who protects the forest, on which human life largely depends.

Heroes of Russian fairy tales. Miracle Yudo

Character folk tales and epics, and even pre-Slavic mythology. Positive or negative character the character is not clearly designated, nor is his gender - in different eras he was both feminine and masculine and in between. Miracle Yudo is a character so ancient that researchers find it difficult to link him to any phenomenon.

It could be a sea animal, a mythical serpent, a dragon. And in author's fairy tale Peter Ershov “The Little Humpbacked Horse” (1834) there is Miracle Yudo Whale Fish - island fish.

Another Ivan in “The Tale of Vasilisa the Golden Braid” also saves all the people and his own from the terrible snake that captivated the beauties and his own sister. Ivan Gorokh is a strong and formidable hero, ready to deal with any evil, to protect native land and defend my sister's honor. But in the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf” the wolf is a more positive character; Ivan Tsarevich was only lucky to meet such a faithful and devoted friend. The same trend can be observed in the fairy tales “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, “Po pike command"and many others.

Russian people for the most part believed that “the grave will correct the hunchbacked one,” therefore, the transformation of the hero from a negative character into a positive one is not typical for Russian fairy tales.

The most positive female characters In Russian fairy tales, Vasilisa the Beautiful and the Wise appear. A Russian beauty is primarily distinguished by her intelligence and kindness; she helps her chosen one to defeat evil with cunning and ingenuity, get a magic object or guide him to the wise. Oddly enough, in some fairy tales even Baba Yaga can be positive, providing the traveler with parting words, ancient knowledge and providing financial assistance in the form of magical objects: a scarf, a comb, a ball of thread or a mirror.

Positive heroes of foreign fairy tales

Pinocchio is a fairy tale by an Italian writer about the transformation of a stupid, naughty and, at times, cruel wooden doll into a kind and caring boy. Pinocchio or Pinocchio are one of the most positive children's characters.

Warrior Heroes in foreign fairy tales are presented quite rarely; Cipollino is considered one of the few such characters, although this is in to a greater extent the image of a revolutionary fighting dictators against the bourgeoisie and slavery. Another positive hero stands apart - the medieval revolutionary Robin Hood. The collective image of a noble robber-warrior is romanticized and spiritualized. He fights evil in the form of cruel feudal lords, lawlessness and injustice.

Eastern fairy tales are closer in their ideas, for example, Aladdin is an analogue of Ivan the Fool or Emelya. Eastern characters, like Russians, are often helped by cunning, dexterity and resourcefulness; the most popular hero is the “Baghdad thief,” a criminal who managed to deceive dozens of moneybags and was never caught. In almost every Arabic tale there is also a guiding hand - as in the Russian tradition, . The smart and cunning wife of Ali Baba, Sakine, Scheherazade, like Vasilisa in Russian fairy tales, personify such intelligence and ingenuity that is inherent only.

Scheherazade, also known as Scheherazade, Shahrazade is the daughter of a vizier, and later the wife of King Shahriyar, a character in the cycle of fairy tales “1000 and 1 Nights.” She told her famous fairy tales to the king.

To whom and why did Scheherazade tell tales?

Shahriyar had a brother, Shahzeman, whose wife cheated on him. Heartbroken, he shared this news with the king. After this, Shahriyar decided to make sure of the fidelity of his own wife, but she turned out to be even more dissolute than his brother’s wife. He executed her and all his concubines, deciding that not a single woman in the world was capable of being faithful. From then on, every day the king ordered an innocent girl to be brought to him, spent the night with her, and executed her the next morning.

This continued until it was the vizier’s daughter’s turn to go to the king. Scheherazade was not only very beautiful, but also exceptionally smart. She figured out how to stop Shahryar’s cruelty without dying herself.

On the first night, when Scheherazade was brought to the king, she asked permission to entertain him and tell him cautionary tale. Having received consent, the girl told him fairy tales until dawn, but in reality interesting place it's morning. Shahryar liked listening to her so much that he decided to postpone the execution and find out the continuation. And so it happened: Scheherazade told all sorts of stories every night, leaving the most interesting for later.

After 1000 and 1 nights, Scheherazade came to the king with a request to have mercy on her, and brought three sons born from him during this time. Shahryar replied that he had long ago decided not to execute her, since she had shown herself to be a chaste and faithful woman, and now he repented of killing innocent girls.

Who came up with "1000 and 1 night"?

The story of Scheherazade itself is the frame and link of the cycle. All tales in the collection can be divided into three types. Heroic stories include stories with a large share of fantastic plot content. It is believed that they are the earliest in time of origin, and form the original core of “1000 and 1 nights”. More late group fairy tales reflect the life and customs of the trading population, most often these are various love stories. They are called urban or adventurous tales. The last ones included in the collection are picaresque tales, which are distinguished by irony towards government officials and narration from the perspective of the poor.

Fairy tales known to us from European publications, such as “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves”, “ Magic lamp Aladdin" were not actually included in any Arabic manuscript.

The history of “1000 and 1 Nights” is still not fully understood. It is generally accepted that the tales are Arabic, however, there are many hypotheses about the origin of the collection. Selected stories from there were known long before the appearance of the cycle. It can be argued, not without reason, that initially folk art edited by professional storytellers and then transcribed by booksellers.

Over many centuries of compilation and formation, the book has absorbed cultural heritage Arabs, Indians, Persians, and even Greek folklore.

The collection provided big influence on the work of many writers, such as Hauff, Tennyson, Dickens. Pushkin admired the beauty of the “1000 and 1” night, which is not surprising, because fairy tales have a vivid narrative, a colorful description of the East of that time, a combination of a fantastic and very real plot.

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

Characters invented in Russia are symbols of the childhood of each of us, while different countries world they are perceived completely differently. For example, if in Russian mythology Baba Yaga is an evil spirit, then among the Scandinavians a similar character is the goddess of the kingdom of the dead, Hel.

Female images: “my light, mirror, tell me...”

Vasilisa the Wise, Elena the Beautiful, Marya the Mistress, Frog Princess, Snow Maiden, Alyonushka - female images who possessed not only stunning female logic, but also kindness, wisdom, beauty, and sincerity. The most striking of them are:

1 A fragile little girl, Santa Claus's assistant - a favorite New Year's guest, a role model for naughty children. Since the mid-19th century, the image of a little granddaughter has been replaced by a young beauty, with the obligatory kokoshnik or fur hat, preferred clothing of Russian women.

No country in the world can boast of such magical and romantic biography like the Russian Snow Maiden. In Italy, this is the fairy Befana, an old woman with a hooked nose who flies to children on a broom, giving gifts. A kind of “Santa Claus” in a skirt. The Mongols call their Snow Maiden Zazan Okhin, the girl Snow. The heroine traditionally asks riddles and gives gifts only after hearing the answer. In the USA, Santa has only reindeer as his assistants, but there is no Snow Maiden.

It is curious that if you try to translate the word Snow Maiden into English using the Google Translate service, the result will always be different. Yesterday Snegurochka was translated as “Snow - boy” (literally - snow boy). Today, Snegurochka in the service database is translated as Snow-maiden (Made from snow).

2 Masha, the Bear's restless companion, a naughty character in the record-breaking 3D cartoon.

The green-eyed fidget is fluent in hand-to-hand combat techniques, loves to be capricious and mischievous, and asks questions that are difficult to answer. The prototype of the animated series was the folklore heroine of a Russian folk tale. Director O. Kuznetsov borrowed character traits from the hero of O. Henry’s story “The Leader of the Redskins.” The team behind the series does not adapt native Russian characters for broadcast in different countries.

3 Baba Yaga- a witch, a heroine of Slavic mythology, endowed with magical powers. The negative character lures good fellows into his hut on chicken legs, without fail giving the heroes a fairy-tale horse and a magical navigator of those times - a ball of thread. The Russian witch is not always friendly, but if you have the gift of eloquence, she can help.

4 Firebird, a fabulous bird that heals the sick and restores sight to the blind, is the sister of the Western European bird Phoenix, which knew how to resurrect from the ashes. The father of the two fiery heroines was most likely Peacock.

Each heroine is an individual, embodying good or evil, her actions and actions are directly related to her character and mission.

Male images: “there are still no shortage of heroes on the Russian land!”

No less colorful is the top positive male images, vividly conveying the spirit of the Russian people. The main images are always antagonistic: in contrast to the beautiful, there is always something bad. Without which male characters are Russian fairy tales unthinkable?

1 Father Frost.

In the Russian version - Morozko, Studenets, the mighty lord of the winter blizzard. The character adored by children rides three horses, binds ponds and rivers with the sound of a staff, and sweeps away cities and villages with his cold breath. On New Year's Day, together with the Snow Maiden, he gives gifts. During the Soviet era, Grandfather was dressed in a red fur coat, the color of the country’s flag. The image of the popular Grandfather, who “wanders through forests and meadows” is played out differently in different countries: Santa Claus, Joulupuki, Jouluvana.

This is interesting:

According to the most conservative estimates of scientists, Santa Claus is already more than 2000 years old. For two thousand years, Santa Claus has appeared more than once in different images. First - in the form pagan god Zimnik: an old man of short stature, with white hair and a long gray beard, with his head uncovered, in warm white clothes and with an iron mace in his hands. And in the fourth century, Santa Claus was reminded of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, who lived in Asia Minor in the city of Patara.

Grandfather began coming to the house with gifts with the beginning of the New Year celebration in Rus'. Previously, he gave gifts to the obedient and smart, and beat the mischievous ones with a stick. But the years have made Santa Claus more compassionate: he replaced the stick with a magic staff.

By the way, Father Frost first appeared on the pages of books in 1840, when Vladimir Odoevsky’s “Children’s Tales of Grandfather Irenaeus” was published. In the book, the name and patronymic of the winter magician became known - Moroz Ivanovich.

In the twentieth century, Santa Claus almost disappeared. After the revolution, it was considered that celebrating Christmas was harmful for the people, because it was a real “priestly” holiday. However, in 1935, the disgrace was finally lifted, and soon Father Frost and the Snow Maiden appeared together for the first time at the Christmas tree celebration in the Moscow House of Unions.

2 Three heroes. Strong, brave, funny heroes have long become a symbol of Russia, thanks to a series of full-length adventures by Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich and Ilya Muromets. In fact, the brave fellows never met in life; according to epics, they even lived in different centuries.

This is interesting:

In 2015, the 6th part of the saga, “Three Heroes: Knight's Move,” released on screens, collected 962,961,596 rubles. Almost 1 billion rubles! Thus, the film became the highest grossing animated film of the year. Although it all started modestly: the box office of the first part - “Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent” (2004) - amounted to 48,376,440 rubles. Then the fees grew steadily.

3 Ivan the Fool(third son) is a character who embodies a special “magic strategy”: the hero acts contrary to common sense and always succeeds! The fool excels at solving riddles, defeats evil spirits and valiantly saves the main character.

Pinocchio, Crocodile Gena, Doctor Aibolit, Barmaley, Winnie the Pooh, Leopold the Cat and Matroskin the Cat are also among the most popular and beloved heroes of Russian cinema, who rightfully occupy high positions in the ranking of fairy-tale characters.

Evil spirits: guardians of forests, swamps and houses

The largest group of Russian folk epics consists of mythical creatures. Vodyanoy, Kikimora, Leshy, mermaids, Brownie, Baba Yaga - magical images that appeared along with the inexplicable forces of nature. In their actions and character, these are more negative characters, but at the same time, they are charming and charismatic in their modern films and cartoons, these include:

1 Koschei the Deathless. A character who has supernatural power. According to legends, he is a treacherous old man who kills domestic animals. The sorcerer often kidnaps the protagonist's fiancee in the hope of "mutual love."

This is interesting:

In Soviet cinema, Koshei was brilliantly played by actor Georgy Millyar. Basically, he played all sorts of evil spirits and he had to apply complex makeup. But for the role of Koshchei the Immortal, makeup was practically not needed, since the actor himself resembled a living skeleton (after contracting malaria, the actor’s weight was only 45 kg).

• Article

Baba Yaga- a character in Slavic mythology and folklore (especially fairy tales) of the Slavic peoples. An old sorceress endowed with magical powers. Witch, werewolf. In its properties it is closest to a witch. Most often - a negative character. In addition to Russians, it is found in Slovak and Czech fairy tales.

• Koschei the Deathless

Koschey (Kashchei) the Immortal- antagonist in Russian fairy tales and folklore. A king, a sorcerer, sometimes a rider on a magical talking horse. Often acts as the protagonist's bride kidnapper. In Slavic paganism - guardian underground kingdom(analogous to Hades). Depicted as a thin, tall old man or a living skeleton, he is often presented as stingy and stingy (“there Tsar Kashchei is wasting away over gold” by A. S. Pushkin). In addition to the name of the hero of fairy tales, the word has two more outdated values: “thin (or stingy) person” and, in ancient Russian texts, “prisoner”.

• Ivan the Fool

Ivan the Fool, or Ivan the Fool- one of the main prototypical characters of Russian fairy tales. According to some versions, a name with the epithet fool is a talismanic name that prevents the evil eye. It embodies a special fairy-tale strategy, based not on the standard postulates of practical reason, but based on the search for one’s own solutions, often contrary to common sense, but ultimately bringing success.

According to other versions, “fool” is his property status. Since he is the third son, he is not entitled to a share in the inheritance (he remains a fool).

As a rule, his social status is low - a peasant's son or the son of an old man and an old woman. In the family he was often the third, youngest son. Not married.

With the help of magical means and especially thanks to his “lack of intelligence,” Ivan the Fool successfully passes all tests and achieves the highest values: he defeats the enemy, marries the Tsar’s daughter, receives both wealth and fame... Perhaps Ivan the Fool achieves all this thanks to this , that he embodies the first (according to Georges Dumézil) magico-legal function, associated not so much with deeds as with words, with priestly duties.

Ivan the Fool is the only one of the brothers who speaks in the fairy tale. Ivan the Fool makes and guesses riddles, that is, he does what a priest does in many traditions during a ritual dedicated to the main annual holiday.

Ivan the Fool - poet and musician; fairy tales emphasize his singing, his ability to play a wonderful pipe or samogud harp, making the herd dance. Ivan the Fool is the bearer of a special speech, in which, in addition to riddles, jokes, and jokes, there are fragments where either the phonetic or semantic principles of ordinary speech are violated, or even something resembling abstruseness; compare “nonsense”, “absurdities”, linguistic paradoxes based, in particular, on the play of homonymy and synonymy, polysemy and multi-referentiality of words, etc. (for example, Ivan the Fool describes killing a snake with a spear as a meeting with evil, which he is evil and hit, “evil died from evil”). Ivan the Fool is connected in the plot with a certain critical situation, culminating in a holiday (victory over the enemy and marriage), in which he is the main participant.

Other European nations have similar tales. For example, the German fairy tale “Hans the Fool” (“Hans Dumm” Brüder Grimm. Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Nr.54), the Italian “Pietro the Fool” (“Pietro pazzo” Straparola G.F. Le piacevoli notti. 1927. Notte terza, favola I.) , French fairy tale “The Marriage of Jean the Idiot” (“Le mariage de Jean le Idiot” Sébillot, Paul. Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne. Paris, 1880. P.140-145.)

• Ivan Tsarevich

Ivan Tsarevich- one of the main characters of Russian folklore. How fairy tale character he showed up at the end XVIII-early XIX century.

Ivan Tsarevich appears in fairy tales in two different images:

• positive character fighting evil, helping the offended or weak. Very often at the beginning of a fairy tale, Ivan Tsarevich is poor, lost by his parents, persecuted by enemies, and does not know about his royal origins. In such tales, as a reward for heroic behavior and good deeds, Ivan Tsarevich receives back his kingdom, throne, or finds his royal parents. But even if he is initially a prince, at the end of the fairy tale he usually receives a kind of prize in the form of someone else’s half-kingdom, a royal or royal daughter, a magic or expensive horse, precious or magical objects, or even additional intelligence or magical skills.
• a negative character who is contrasted with other princes, but more often with characters simple origin, for example, Ivan the Fisherman's Son. In this case, Ivan Tsarevich is angry, treacherous and different ways trying to destroy the good heroes and take away their well-deserved reward. In the end he is disgraced and punished, but almost never killed.

As a fairy-tale character, Ivan Tsarevich is most often associated with only a few specific plots. Each such plot hardly changes from fairy tale to fairy tale, only the descriptions change characters and their names.

Typically, Ivan Tsarevich (like Ivan the Fool) is the youngest of the Tsar's three sons.

• Emelya

Emelya (“Karmushkin”)- a character from the Russian folk tale “At the Pike’s Command.”

Emelya is not allowed to take part in serious matters of the family. He is extremely lazy: his daughters-in-law have to beg him for a long time to do any work, even simple ones. The only thing that can motivate him to action is the promise of gifts, which he is greedy for. This is a hidden, at first glance, unnoticeable irony; the name Emelyan, according to one version, translated from Latin means “hardworking.” However, this seemingly unattractive character has qualities that make him a real hero: he is dexterous and lucky, he managed to catch a magic pike in an ice hole with his bare hands and receive magical power from it (in the terminology of V. Ya. Propp, the pike becomes a “magic helper” village fool).

At first, Emelya uses the acquired gift for everyday purposes - she makes buckets go for water, an ax - to chop wood, a club - to beat her enemies. In addition, he travels on a self-propelled sleigh without a horse, and subsequently controls the stove (since he does not want to leave his favorite couch). Riding on the stove is one of the brightest episodes of the fairy tale. It is interesting that, while driving her vehicles, Emelya mercilessly crushes people (“Why did they climb under the sleigh?”). Among folklorists, there is an opinion that this detail indicates the royal nature of Emelya, who for the time being remains a “dark horse”, and subsequently reveals his heroic, extraordinary essence.

Indeed, it is rumors about the lordly way of driving and complaints from victims that force the king to pay attention to the most insignificant of his subjects. Emelya is lured to the palace with the help of gifts, and the king makes a claim to him, which, in essence, is limited to a verbal reprimand. Emelya at this time manages to bewitch the Tsar’s daughter, so that when he goes home, she begins to feel sad and demands to return peasant son. The Tsar agrees, but when Emelya comes a second time, he immurs him and Princess Marya in a barrel and throws them into the sea. However, a magical gift helps the hero out here too: the spell “At the behest of a pike, at my will” throws the barrel ashore, builds a palace and turns Emelya into a handsome man (at the girl’s request). The king, seeing a new castle on his land, gets angry and comes to look at the insolent man. He does not recognize the changed Emelya, and only during the meal the hero reveals his face and reminds the king of his villainous act. The Tsar is frightened and recognizes Emelya’s strength and that he is worthy to become his son-in-law. Like many Russian fairy tales, the story ends with a wedding.

• Vasilisa the Beautiful

The king wanted to marry his three sons. They went into an open field, pulled their bows and shot an arrow: where whose arrow falls, there his bride will be. The arrow of the youngest son of Ivan Tsarevich fell into a swamp, and he married the Frog Princess. At night she took off her frog skin and became Vasilisa the Beautiful, a beauty and a needlewoman. Only three days remained for Ivan Tsarevich to be patient, and she would become his forever. But he was in a hurry, burned the skin of the frog, and Vasilisa the Beautiful, turning into a bird, flies away to distant lands, to the thirtieth kingdom - to the country of Kashcheev. Ivan Tsarevich goes after her, and along the way he finds good helpers - forest animals, Baba Yaga. Having defeated Koshchei and destroyed his kingdom, Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Beautiful return home.

• Princess Frog

"Princess Frog"- Russian folk fairy tale. Fairy tales with a similar plot are also known in some European countries - for example, in Italy and Greece. The character of this tale is a beautiful girl, usually possessing knowledge of witchcraft (Vasilisa the Wise) and forced to live for some time in the guise of a frog.

According to a typical fairy tale plot, Ivan Tsarevich is forced to marry a frog, as he finds her as a result of a ritual (the princes shot from bows at random, where the arrow would hit - and look for the bride there). The frog, unlike the wives of Ivan Tsarevich’s brothers, copes well with all the tasks of the king, his father-in-law, either with the help of witchcraft (in one version of the fairy tale), or with the help of “nurses” (in another). When the Tsar invites Ivan and his wife to a feast, she arrives in the guise of beautiful girl. Ivan Tsarevich secretly burns his wife's frog skin, forcing her to leave him. Ivan goes in search, finds her at Koshchei the Immortal and frees his wife.

• Lisa Patrikeevna

Lisa Patrikeevna(Fox-sister, godmother-fox) is one of the main characters of Russian fairy tales.

Fairy tales about the cunning fox and the stupid wolf are common, in which the fox deceives the wolf for her own benefit. There are also fairy tales where the fox deceives other animals (for example, a hare) or people. In most cases, the Fox (or Fox) is negative hero, personifying cunning, deceit, deceit, cunning, selfishness. IN literary fairy tale The image of the fox became softer compared to the folklore prototype. For example, in folklore tales, a fox may hire out to dress up the body of a deceased person and then eat it.

Fairy tales on the theme of the struggle between the cunning Fox and the evil Wolf have been found since ancient times in the folklore of most European peoples.

• Teddy Bear Clubfoot

• Kolobok

Kolobok- a character from the Russian folk tale of the same name, depicted as a small spherical wheat bread, which escaped from the grandparents who baked it, from various animals (a hare, a wolf and a bear), but was eaten by a fox.

It has analogues in the fairy tales of many other peoples: the American gingerbread man, the English Johnny Donut, there are similar Slavic, Scandinavian and German fairy tales, the plot is also found in Uzbek, Tatar fairy tales and others.

• Dragon

Dragon- a multi-headed fire-breathing dragon, a representative of the evil principle in Russian folk tales and epics. In Slavic mythology it is found as zmok (Slovak. zmok, Czech. zmok) or smok (Polish. smok, Belarusian tsmok), serpent (V. Luzh. zmij, Ukrainian zmiy), zmai (Slovenian zmaj, S.- Croatian serpent), serpent (blr. and blg. serpent).

The many-headed nature of a snake is its indispensable feature. The number of heads is usually a multiple of three, most often there are 3, 6, 9 and 12, but there are also 5 and 7. Most often, the snake appears three-headed. Other features of the serpent are mentioned less frequently or not at all. In most cases, the kite has the ability to fly, but, as a rule, nothing is said about its wings. Thus, in the entire Afanasyev collection of Russian folk tales, “fiery wings” are reported only once (the fairy tale “Frolka-seat”). The body of a snake is not described in fairy tales, however, in popular prints depicting a snake, the favorite details are a long arrow tail and clawed paws. Another important feature of the snake is its fiery nature, but how exactly the fire erupts is not described in fairy tales. The snake carries fire within itself and spews it out when attacked. In addition to the fire element, the snake is also associated with the water element, and these two elements do not exclude each other. In some fairy tales, he lives in the water, sleeping on a stone in the sea. At the same time, the serpent is also the Serpent Gorynych and lives in the mountains (it is also possible that the patronymic came from the Slavic name Gorynya). However, such a location does not prevent him from being a sea monster. In some fairy tales, he lives in the mountains, but when the hero approaches him, he comes out of the water. According to Dahl, “Gorynya is a fabulous hero and giant who rocks mountains. Gorynich is a fabulous patronymic given to heroes, sometimes to snakes, or to inhabitants of mountains, dens, and caves.” The three-headed serpent Azhi-Dahak from Iranian mythology and the Serbian Serpent Fire Wolf (Smaj Ogeni Vuk) are similar to the Serpent Gorynych.

• Cat Baiyun

cat Baiyun- Russian character fairy tales, a huge man-eating cat with a magical voice. He speaks and lulls approaching travelers to sleep with his tales and those of them who are not strong enough to resist his magic and who are not prepared for battle with him, the Bayun cat mercilessly kills. But whoever can get a cat will find salvation from all illnesses and ailments - Bayun’s fairy tales are healing. The word bayun itself means “talker, storyteller, talker”, from the verb bayat - “tell, talk” (cf. also the verbs lull, lull in the meaning “to put to sleep”). Fairy tales say that Bayun sits on a high, usually iron, pole. The cat lives far away in the thirtieth kingdom or in a lifeless dead forest, where there are no birds or animals. In one of the fairy tales about Vasilisa the Beautiful, the Cat Bayun lived with Baba Yaga.

Exists a large number of fairy tales, where the main thing acting character give the task to catch the cat; As a rule, such tasks were given with the goal of ruining a good fellow. Meeting with it fairy-tale monster threatens imminent death. To capture the magic cat, Ivan Tsarevich puts on an iron cap and iron gloves. Having extorted and caught the animal, Ivan Tsarevich takes it to the palace to his father. There, the defeated cat begins to serve the king - telling fairy tales and healing the king with soothing words.

• Firebird

Firebird- a fairytale bird, a character in Russian fairy tales, is usually the goal of searching for the hero of a fairy tale. The feathers of the firebird have the ability to shine and their brilliance amazes human vision. The Firebird is a fiery bird, its feathers shine with silver and gold (Ognivak’s feathers are reddish), its wings are like tongues of flame, and its eyes glow like crystal. It reaches the size of a peacock.

The Firebird lives in the Garden of Eden of Iria, in a golden cage. At night it flies out of it and illuminates the garden with itself as brightly as thousands of lit lights.

Catching the firebird is fraught with great difficulties and is one of the main tasks that the king (father) sets to his sons in the fairy tale. The firebird can only be obtained youngest son. Mythologists (Afanasyev) explained the firebird as the personification of fire, light, sun. The firebird feeds on golden apples, which give youth, beauty and immortality; When she sings, pearls fall from her beak.

The singing of the firebird heals the sick and restores sight to the blind. Leaving aside arbitrary mythological explanations, we can compare the firebird with medieval stories about the Phoenix bird, reborn from the ashes, very popular in both Russian and Western European literature. The prototype of the Firebird is the peacock. Rejuvenating apples, in turn, can be compared with the fruits of the pomegranate tree, a favorite delicacy of phoenixes.

Every year, in the fall, the Firebird dies and is reborn in the spring. Sometimes you can find a fallen feather from the Firebird's tail; included in dark room, it will replace the richest lighting. Over time, such a feather turns into gold.

To catch, Firebirds use a golden cage with apples inside as a trap. You cannot catch it with your bare hands, as you can get burned on its plumage.

• Gray wolf
• Sivka-Burka
• Dereza goat
• Elena the beautiful
• Vasilisa the Wise
• Marya Iskusnitsa
• Miracle Yudo