Koschey the Immortal - who is he? Theories of the origin of the folk antihero. Koschey

In Viktor Kalashnikov’s book “Russian Demonology” an attempt was made to systematize the heroes and plots of Russian folk tales. This is done not because of the desire to create an encyclopedia of folklore, but in order to discern how, behind the layers of eras and cultures (Christianity, the secular state), the ancient Slavic epic, whose heroes were pagan gods and spirits, disappeared into children's fairy tales.

Koschey the Immortal (or Kashchei) is perhaps the most mysterious figure in Russian fairy tales. Afanasyev, for example, believed that the Serpent Gorynych and Koschey the Immortal are, if not the same, then at least interchangeable characters: “As a demonic creature, the serpent in Russian folk legends often appears under the name of Koshchei the Immortal. The meaning of both in our fairy tales is completely identical: Koschey plays the same role of a stingy treasure keeper and a dangerous kidnapper of beauties as the snake; both of them are equally hostile to the fairy-tale heroes and freely replace each other, so that in the same fairy tale, in one version the snake is the protagonist, and in the other, Koschey.”

But is it possible to confuse a living mummy and a dragon? They are so different! And anyway, what kind of strange name is Koschey? What does it mean? Afanasyev believed that it comes either from “bone” or from “blasphemy” - witchcraft. Other scientists, inclined to see borrowings from the languages of neighboring peoples in Russian words, believed that the name of the living skeleton comes from a Turkic word meaning “slave, servant.”

If a slave, then whose? After all, in Russian fairy tales the owner Koshchei is not mentioned. This living skeleton may be captured by Marya Morevna, but like a prisoner chained to the wall, he is not a servant at all. How could the Russian Koshchei have a Turkic name? What does his death mean, resting in a casket either under the treasured oak tree, or at the bottom of the sea? What does this have to do with animal helpers?..

In short, many questions arise, but there are no clear answers. Maybe Afanasyev was right after all when he elevated Koshchei’s name to blasphemy, that is, he called him a wizard. Well, really, who else could extend his life so much that people would call him Immortal? Of course, an almighty magician. Or a person who turned to demonic forces for help, like, say, Faust. But Koschey in fairy tales is not a wizard or a person at all; he himself, most likely, belongs to the demonic world. So Afanasyev’s explanation suffers from approximation and inaccuracy.

Perhaps the most interesting guess is that of L. M. Alekseeva, who wrote in “Aurora Borealis in the Mythology of the Slavs”:

“Undoubtedly, Karachun belongs to the single world of the dead and cold. He is supposedly considered a winter Slavic deity who retained the features of the personification of death. At the same time, Belarusian beliefs specify that Karachun shortens life and is the cause of sudden death at a young age. It is important for us that this image is associated with an objective and clear natural factor: Karachun is not only the name of an evil spirit, but also the name of the winter solstice and the holiday associated with it. To track the Sun, you need a certain scientific qualification, if not all, then at least some members of society (magi). In addition, the name of the deity introduces us to the circle of detailed plots of the East Slavic fairy tale: Karachun is one of the names of Koshchei the Immortal.”

That is, according to Alekseeva, Koschey is the god of death from cold, and the god, or rather demon, is very ancient. To defeat him, you need to spin the wheel of time back, as it were, to return to the very beginning of the world, when the Immortal was born. Then it is clear why the following appear in the fairy tale: a brown bear - the ruler of the forests, then birds - a hawk and a duck, which can often be seen in the northern tundra. Following them, inhabitants of the earth and air, appears an aquatic inhabitant, a fish, in this case a pike. Maybe once upon a time it was not a pike, but a completely different fish?

Cover of Viktor Kalashnikov’s book “Russian Demonology”.

Let's say a beluga whale living in the polar regions. If this is so, then in the fairy tale we move not only in space from south to north, from the zone of dense forests through the tundra to the polar seas, but also backwards in time - in the opposite direction along the path that our distant ancestors once took, fleeing the onset of the Great Ice Age. Simply put, fabulous animals point us to the north - to where the ancestral home of all Aryan peoples, Arctida, once existed.

Perhaps they paid tribute there with sacrifices to the evil god of severe cold Karachun, who was born at the very beginning of the creation of the world - from a golden egg laid by the miracle hen Ryaba. Then Karachun lost control - the cold became more and more unbearable, claimed more and more lives, and the time came, leaving his homeland, which was becoming covered with ice before our eyes, to follow the fish, follow the birds to a distant continent and go further and further, escaping from the one moving on his heels. Karachuna-Koshchei. They should have gone into the forests, under the protection of trees, and the southern fields, where the frost was not so severe.

It was an exodus from the ancestral home, from the roof of the world, where heaven and earth almost touch each other, where the myth of the Golden Egg originated. Therefore, going from north to south also meant moving from the distant past to the present and future.

Our assumptions are not at all as fantastic as they might seem at first glance. According to numerous legends, everything came from the golden egg: not only Heaven and Earth, but also the depths of the underground; not only a clear Day, but also a dark Night, not only Good, but also Evil. Following the logic of the myth, you need to go back to the very beginning of time in order to defeat Evil in its bud, while breaking... the needle. Why an igloo? In the already mentioned book, Alekseeva suggests that we are talking about a spear - the main weapon of the northern peoples, with which they beat sea animals and polar bears. And to this day, whales are hunted only with harpoons - large spears, or, if you prefer, needles.

Although the immortal demon of the cold, of course, is not a bear, not a walrus, or even a whale. You can’t take it with an ordinary harpoon; you need something more powerful. For example, a magic wand is the same magic wand that is spoken of in almost all fairy tales.

And again the question is - why not turn this magic rod against Koshchei in order to take his life by casting spells? Why does the rod need to be broken? Yes, for the simple reason that this rod, apparently, belonged, if not to Koshchei himself, then to the high priest of his cult. Only by destroying the rod can one cut off the thread of life of an ancient, but by no means immortal, demon. This is what Ivan did in the fairy tale, although Koschey was sure that he was not capable of reaching such wisdom with his mind. The immortal was sure that the Russian people had forgotten where they came from to the forests. But no, they didn’t forget: they remembered at the right moment, and then “karachun” came to Koschey - that is, the end.

There is another assumption about what the treasured Koshcheev’s needle is. The immortal is not completely alive, but not completely dead either, he seems to be in the middle of the path between this and this light, that is, he is practically the same as the walking dead; their bodies were buried, but they rise from their graves and come as ghosts to their home to disturb their relatives.

There was only one known way to protect yourself from the annoying dead: at midnight, dig up their grave, find an invisible “navy” bone and destroy it by breaking it, or, more accurately, burn it. And then the dead man calmed down and died completely. If the needle hidden in the egg is considered the “Navia” bone of Koshchei himself, then it is clear why death overtook him.

Perhaps in ancient times there was some kind of ritual that promised a person the acquisition of immortality. In any case, in the grave of the founder of the city of Chernigov (let’s not forget that the servants of Chernobog were called Chernigov in Rus'), Prince Cherny, excavated by archaeologists, the scene depicted in the fairy tale was found: a deadly needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare - in a treasured casket.

And here we come to an understanding of what immortality actually is. Is this a punishment or a blessing? The ritual of gaining immortality itself has long been forgotten, but its symbol has been preserved - immortelle flowers, about which, remembering his native village of Antonovka, Mirolyubov wrote: “In Antonovka it was customary to sow immortelle flowers on graves, special rough, dry to the touch flowers, yellowish, reddish and, it seems, , bluish, which could be picked and placed in a glass of water, and they could stand like that for months; if they were placed in a vase without water, they also stood for months. Apparently there was life in them, but it was as if there wasn’t.

Since I was still a boy at that time, I was interested in why the peasants preferred to sow them in the cemetery. “Old people” answered me that “that’s why immortelle flowers are flowers of dead relatives, because they are like dead ones even in life.” Old Trembochka, a woman in the village, like a healer, explained differently:

“The same flowers are blooming in the pit! They are from the pit, and everyone whom the pit takes away can communicate with us through those flowers. These flowers are like a line (border) between us and them, and we touch them here, and they touch them there. Death does not take them. Whether they are thwarted or not, for them life and death are one and the same. These flowers are without death.” Another woman who lived near the bridge over the Zheltye Vody river said: “So, if God made light, he took it and began to create the earth, but death did not want it. Then God mounted a horse and began to call death to battle, and she armed herself with all sorts of knives, iron claws, clubs, and a gun and went against God. The fight lasted for an eternity. Either God fights, or she, the damned one, and while God fought against death, He created in fits and starts, now this, now something else. God will create, but death will destroy!

Finally, God lay in wait for death when it was gaping and killed it. But, falling, Death grabbed onto bushes, grass, branches, and what it grabs will dry up. She also grabbed the immortelle flowers and began tearing them by the roots. God told them to grow stronger so that she could not tear them out, and the flowers grew around the lying death only so much that they covered it halfway, and God could not hit death so that it would stop moving! Then He said: “Well, then be without life and without death!” And the flowers remained like this forever. And they put them on the graves to announce to the deceased that “There is no Death! She was killed by God!” But since death has not yet stopped moving and is still killing people, flowers remind the deceased of life, and the living of death!”

Indeed, I had to observe later - the peasants did not like to keep immortelle flowers in the house. These were grave flowers. There was an almost religious attitude towards them. Having picked several of these flowers, I came home from the cemetery, where children gathered in the spring to play, and wanted to put the flowers in the water, but the servants, noticing them, took them away and threw them into the fire.

Well, this is, perhaps, the best explanation of Koshchei’s immortality, which is no longer life and death is unattainable; he was stuck between these two worlds and remained there until Ivan Tsarevich saved him from eternal torment and granted him the blissful oblivion of death.

If we consider Koshchei a slave, then he was a servant of his damned immortality. Still, he rather belonged to the other world, because he recognizes the appearance of Ivan by the smell of the living: “It smells like Russian bone!” For the dead, as we know, the smell of the living is intolerable, just as the smell of carrion is disgusting for the living. Ethnographer V. Ya. Propp in “Historical Roots of a Fairy Tale” wrote about this: “Ivan smells not just like a person, but like a living person. The dead and incorporeal do not smell, the living smell, the dead recognize the living by their smell... This smell of the living is extremely disgusting to the dead... The dead generally experience fear of the living. No one alive should cross the cherished threshold.”

Research

Koschey

Immortal

Nomination: “Literature and folklore”

The study was carried out by 1st grade students:

Prominsky Valery, Kodyaeva Valeria,

Uvarova Angelina, Volkova Ksenia.

Leaders:

Novikova N.V.,

primary school teacher,

Introduction

We are all well aware of such a character from Russian folk tales as Koschey the Immortal from early childhood. What is he? The answer comes naturally: this is an evil ruler who loves gold and steals beautiful girls. Is this so? Couldn't Koschey be kind? Maybe we are wrong to talk about him?

In fairy tales, as in any literature in general, every little detail is thought out, and not a single detail can be in them without a good reason.

Relevance work is that Russian folk tales contain a deep meaning and you need to work a lot and think carefully, comparing a lot of facts in order to answer the question: what is the character of Koshchei the Immortal and what did this character bring to Russian folklore.

So why is Koschey the Immortal in our favorite Russian folk tales? This question interested us, and we decided to explore fairy tales in which this character is present.

The research work poses the followingtarget : get acquainted with the history of the image of Koshchei the Immortal; find out what role he plays in the fairy tale; analyze folk tales in which this character is present; make their classification in accordance with the type of image being studied.

During the research, the following were left:tasks :

1) study folk tales more deeply;

2) get acquainted with the history of the image of Koshchei the Immortal;

3) identify the characteristics of this character and classify fairy tales according to the type of Koshchei the Immortal;

4) make a presentation “Koschei the Immortal in Russian folk tales” foruse in extracurricular literary reading classes.

Object research are Russian folk tales, in which one of the characters is Koschey the Immortal;subject research - the role of Koshchei the Immortal in Russian folk tales.

Hypothesis: Koschey the Immortal is a negative character in Russian folk tales.

During the study, the following were usedmethods , such as studying fairy tales, getting acquainted with reference books, analyzing the collected material, systematizing and classifying fairy tales in accordance with the type of image being studied, making a presentation.

Origin of the image of Koshchei the Immortal

Koschey the Immortal is one of the most striking fairy-tale characters, making an indelible impression on the listener, especially in children's audiences. Plots in which this image is present always make you empathize with the main character, Ivan Tsarevich, and worry about his fate, since his opponent is strong, powerful and, it seems, invulnerable. In addition, from an everyday point of view, the image of Koshchei in fairy tales is perceived as clearly negative. From the position of a bearer of mythological consciousness, this definition should be put in quotation marks. Actually, the image of Koshchei the Immortal is one of the variants of the image of the hero’s opponent, without whom the test that takes the hero into a new stage of his fairy-tale existence could not take place. The image of Koshchei, like Baba Yaga, has a mythological basis that dates back to ancient times.

A lot of troubles and worries are brought to the fairy-tale heroes by their eternal enemy Koschey the Immortal. As soon as the prince falls in love with a beautiful maiden and thinks about marriage, the evil and insidious Koschey steals his betrothed right from under the crown, takes her far away, to unknown lands. And the young man is forced to accomplish unprecedented feats in order to free and regain his beloved.

Who is he, this malicious, omnipresent old man, why can’t he calm down?

Portrait

The appearance of Koshchei in fairy tales is rather unclear.

One of the most frequently mentioned signs is age. Koschey the Immortal is depicted as an old, “gray-haired old man,” “decrepit man.”

In many fairy tales, Koschey the Immortal does not walk, does not drive, but flies, like a bird or a whirlwind, which is reminiscent of the Serpent Gorynych. Koshchei’s flight causes violent changes in the state of nature: “Suddenly thunder roars, hail comes, Koschey the Immortal flies.”

Koschey the Immortal is endowed with enormous power in fairy tales. From his very breath the heroes-heroes “fly like mosquitoes.” Koschey is able to lift a sword “five hundred pounds”, fight with the hero all day long and win.

The mythological nature of Koshchei is evidenced by the fact that he, hanging by a thread, burning in a fire or boiling in a cauldron, does not die: after all, he is immortal. Exhausted from hunger and thirst, Koschey only loses his extraordinary strength. True, she returns to him as soon as he drinks water.

The mystery of the name

We still do not know the exact origin of the name “Koschey”. The most common version - the name “Koschey” comes from the word “bone” and means a skinny person - is not in fashion among linguists today. Modern researchers of Russian folklore are more inclined to see the roots of the villain either in Lower Sorbiankoltlar(caster), or in ancient Russian “kast” (abomination, muck, etc.).

Where Koschey lives, trees do not grow, birds do not sing, the earth is not fertile, and the sun does not send out its blessed rays. In the Koshchei kingdom there is always twilight. Everything is scorched, dried, frozen. What does this remind you of? Well, of course, winter, severe frosts that bind rivers and can kill all living things. It is fair to note that under Koshchei the Immortal the ancient god of death from cold could be hidden. And so he was. This is Karachun - an evil spirit that shortens life and brings death from cold. The same word is used to describe the winter solstice. Karachun is an underground god who rules frosts. His assistants: connecting rod bears that turn into snowstorms, and blizzard wolves.

Habitat

The fact that Koschey is associated with cold is also indicated by the following facts gleaned from fairy tales. On the way to the kingdom of Koshcheev, the traveler first comes across a brown bear - the ruler of the forests. Following him are birds, in particular migratory birds, for example, the duck, which can be seen in the northern tundra during the summer nesting period. Next comes fish. Pike, but perhaps this is a later replacement, and earlier there was some fish from the northern seas, for example, beluga whale. Thus, the path goes from south to north. And it is in the north that Koschey the Immortal lives in his terrible and cold palaces.Who is Koschey?

Oddly enough, scientists have not yet come to a clear conclusion. Some see Koschei as the Slavic god of death from cold Karachun, others as the Russian version of the German god Odin, and still others as simply a sorcerer with great magical abilities. Many modern folklorists generally call for the rehabilitation of Koshchei, declaring that he is not a villain at all, but a kind of role model for a participant in the mystery of initiation of a young girl, which is performed by the father of the initiate.

The perception of Koshchei the Immortal as a representative of the “other” world, the world of death, is indicated by the characteristics of his location. The kingdom of Koshchei is very far away: the hero has to go to “the end of the world, to the very end” of it. Of all the paths, the longest, most difficult and dangerous one leads there: the hero wears out iron boots, an iron coat and an iron hat, eats three iron loaves; he has to overcome numerous obstacles, turn to assistants for advice and help, fight an insidious enemy, and even die and be resurrected. The dwelling of Koshchei the Immortal is depicted in a fairy tale as a palace, a castle, a large house, “a façade - golden windows.” Here there are untold riches - gold, silver, ray pearls, which the hero, after defeating the enemy, takes from his kingdom. According to researchers, the golden color of objects in the mythopoetic consciousness is perceived as a sign of the other world. The same applies to the image of the glass mountains, where, according to some fairy tale texts, the palace of Koshchei the Immortal is located.

Koshchei’s belonging to the “other” world can be traced in a feature that brings him closer to the image of Baba Yaga. Like Baba Yaga, he detects the presence of a person in his house by smell, and to describe this moment, storytellers use the same formulas: “Fu-fu-fu, something in the upper room smells of the Russian spirit” - or: “Ugh -ugh! You can’t hear a Russian braid, you can’t see a Russian braid, but the Russian braid itself came to the yard.” As in the case of Baba Yaga, the expression “Russian braid”, characteristic of a Russian fairy tale, means a person in general as a representative of a foreign epic tribe.

The main types of Koshchei in fairy tales

In fairy tales, Koschey the Immortal is credited with extraordinary gluttony, which probably helps maintain his strength. For example, he eats a dinner prepared for three hero-heroes, at once he can drink a bucket and even a barrel of water or wine, and eat half an ox. Excessive gluttony brings his image closer to mythological ideas about death, the essence of which is characterized by a constant feeling of hunger.

As a fairy-tale character belonging to a “different” world, Koschey the Immortal is the owner of not only untold wealth, but also wonderful things. So, he has a magic sword Sam-self-cutting, and he also has an extraordinary horse. The horse of Koshchei the Immortal is endowed with various fantastic abilities. He is prophetic: he warns his master three times that his captive has been taken away by Ivan Tsarevich. Another ability of the horse is unimaginable speed

In one of the versions of the fairy tale, Koschey, turning to the hero for help, says: “If, well done, you let me off the board, I’ll add two more centuries to you!” Having been freed from captivity, Koschey keeps his promise until the hero tries for the third time to free his wife or fiancee from him.

The main feature of Koshchei the Immortal, which distinguishes him from other fairy-tale characters, is that his death (soul, power) is materialized in the form of an object and exists separately from it.

Crimes of Koshchei

In Russian fairy tales, Koschey appears as a very capable sorcerer. Moreover, he was very sophisticated in his magical solutions. So, in the fairy tale “Elena the Beautiful” he turns Ivan Tsarevich into a nut, he “dresses up” the princess from “The Frog Princess” in the skin of an amphibian, and in the fairy tale “Ivan Sosnovich” he deals with the whole kingdom, turning it into stone. The villain himself prefers to turn into a raven.

As a rule, all of Koshchei’s activities are built around young girls. Koschey uses the same tactics to win their love: first, he effectively kidnaps the girl, then tries to achieve reciprocity, and, having failed, turns fairy-tale beauties into frogs or snakes.

The demon of winter in folk tales often appears in the form of an old, bony, ugly sorcerer. And who enjoys old age and disgusting appearance? No one. So he reaches out to youth and beauty, dreaming of borrowing vital juices and strength from her in order to continue doing his unrighteous deeds. That is why so often a beautiful maiden becomes his victim.

Beauty, beauty is an integral quality of the Slavic goddess of love and spring Lada. So Koschey is trying to captivate her, to freeze her, to freeze her heart full of love and warmth, to cover her golden hair, like the rays of the sun, with gray frost. In a word, to appropriate it for yourself, to imprison it in an impregnable chamber. To hide from human eyes the life-giving force that can transform the earth, color it with greenery and flowers. And the hero-prince, going to battle with the monster, is like a thunder god. All the forces of nature help the young man on his difficult journey. His victory is a victory over death, over eternal darkness and cold. So the fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it...

Koschey the Gallant

True, there was a case when the lady reciprocated with Koschey. In the epic “About Ivan Godonovich” the Immortal with the exotic patronymic Tripetovich appears as a gallant, courtly gentleman, wooing the Chernigov princess Marya Dmitrievich. His rival is the treacherous Ivan Godinovich, who kidnaps Koshchei’s bride and takes her to an open field. Having caught up with the kidnapper, Koschey Tripetovich again asks the beautiful Marya to become his legal wife. And she agrees. Then a raven flies in and begins to croak to the lovers that Marya Dmitrievna will not be Koshcheyev’s wife, but the wife of Ivan Godinovich. In a fit of righteous anger, the Immortal Romeo shoots at the raven, but the arrow changes its trajectory and kills Koshchei himself. Unhappy Marya the Beautiful decides to put an end to Ivan, but he deftly snatches the saber from her and quarters the girl. This is how Koshchei’s only novel ended tragically.

How to kill Koshchei

Is Koschey the Immortal immortal? He would really like to forever encase the earth in an icy shell and rule over the snow clouds that forever hid the life-giving sun and are unable to bring warm spring rains.

Koschey jealously guards the wealth he unjustly acquired. It’s not for nothing that misers withered by stinginess are called Koshchei in Rus'.
But in the fairy tale, Koshchei eventually comes to death. One way or another, the hero learns his secret.

In one of the fairy tales, Koschey opened up: “My death is far away: there is an island on the sea on the ocean, 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, and in the egg there is death.” my". Many scientists saw in this “matryoshka” a model of the universe: water (sea - ocean), earth (island), plants (oak), animals (hare), birds (duck), and the oak is the “world tree”. In other words, you can end Koshchei by destroying the world order.

Returning to the image of Koshchei the Immortal, it should be noted that there are stories in which his death occurs from a blow from the hoof of a magic horse, specially obtained by the hero.

This is how the demon of winter, who sensed and hated the “Russian spirit,” finds his death. And love and spring triumph again. Not only the bride and groom find happiness - all animals, birds, plants. So the mythological evil spirit Koschey is not at all immortal.

Christian interpretation of Koshchei

Some elders of Northern Rus' interpreted Koshchei as the fallen Adam, and Ivan Tsarevich as a “New Testament man.”

In other assumptions of “folk Orthodoxy,” Koschey symbolized the sinful body, the girl he kidnapped was the human soul, and Ivan Tsarevich the spirit. The death of Koshchei was interpreted by these ascetics as the cleansing of the soul from sins. True, modern folklorists consider these interpretations anti-scientific.

What is the role of Koshchei the Immortal in the fairy tale?

From the texts it is known that his usual activities consist of flying around Rus', “going to war,” leaving “for prey” or hunting, “roaming around the free world.” As part of the development of the plot of the fairy tale, Koschey acts as a formidable opponent of the protagonist. The conflict between them always arises because of the heroine-bride: Koschey is the kidnapper of the hero’s bride. Sometimes there is no motivation for kidnapping in a fairy tale. More often, the heroine’s coming under the power of Koshchei is associated with a violation of some prohibition on the part of the main character. This, for example, is a violation of the wife’s (or bride’s) requirement for her husband (or groom) to enter one of the rooms of the house: the basement or pantry. Failure to comply with this prohibition leads to Koschey being released from a closed room, forcibly capturing the heroine and taking her to his kingdom: “The old man hit the ground, stole Elena the Beautiful from the garden and took her away.” There is also often a ban on burning the skin of an enchanted or cursed frog princess before a certain period of time has expired.

Koschey the Immortal is not the only character who kidnaps brides and women. This category of fairy-tale images also includes the Serpent, birds such as Voron Voronovich, the bear and similar characters.

Classification of fairy tales by Koshchei types

We conducted a survey of students. 40 students in grades 1-4 took part in the survey. The question was asked: “Is Koschey the Immortal in Russian folk tales a positive hero or a negative one?” The answers were as follows. 86% believe that this hero symbolizes evil; 14% believe that in some fairy tales he is good, and in others he is evil.

Koschey the Immortal is one of the most common fairy-tale heroes and was formed because he is a very colorful, bright, memorable image of Russian folklore. Are there many Russian folk tales in which there is such a character as Koschey the Immortal? Of the 20 fairy tales analyzed, in sixteen Koschey the Immortal acts as a kidnapper, in 2 as an assistant, in 20 as a warrior, and in 20 as a sorcerer.

Thus, the popular opinion about the evil Koshchei the Immortal is not so wrong, and this has been proven in the course of research work. The fabulous Koschey the Immortal is most often a negative hero, but he can also be an adviser and giver , the image of which is made up of various details.

So in the fairy tales “The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water”, “Marya Morevna”, he appears as a fair ruler who observes the agreement, in contrast to the positive hero Ivan Tsarevich.

What is immortality?

Is this a blessing or a punishment? Perhaps in ancient times there was a ritual for achieving immortality. In any case, archaeologists, while excavating the grave of the founder of the city of Chernigov, Prince Cherny, found a scene depicted in fairy tales: a needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a treasured casket. The ritual of gaining immortality has been forgotten, but its symbol has been preserved - immortelle flowers. Rough and dry to the touch, yellowish, reddish. Whether they grow in the ground or are picked and placed in a glass of water - there is not much difference. They can stand without water and do not change their color. There seems to be life in them, and there seems to be no life. They prefer to plant such flowers on graves. The explanation is this: these flowers are like a border between the living and the dead. We touch them in this world, and the dead touch them in the next.

Maybe Koshchei’s immortality is like that? Life is not life, and death is unattainable. And he is stuck between two worlds and remains so until Ivan Tsarevich saves him from such eternal torment, because Koschey is still a being greater than that otherworldly world. He immediately smells the smell of a living person with disgust.Development of the image in modern literature

Conclusion.

The image of Koshcheyan was so loved by readers that it stepped from Russian folk tales into modern literature and cinema.

The first poems dedicated to Koshchei belong to A. S. Pushkin in “Ruslan and Lyudmila”:

There, King Koschey is wasting away over gold,

There's a Russian spirit there,

It smells like Russia there.

Times have changed, and so has the ancient fairy-tale hero. His character has become softer, he no longer does nasty things and is becoming more and more like a good uncle than an evil ruler.

We found:

Koschei the Deathless- a fictional fairy-tale character, his prototype is the god of death and cold;

according to scientists,Koschei the Deathlessin ancient times she was either a warlock or a god ruling the underworld;

the name “Koschey” comes from the word “bone” and means a skinny person

in fairy tales he appears in the form of an ugly old man living in a palace among gold, where the main character inevitably ends up;

according to young readers,Koschei the Deathless– negative character;

a fairy tale knows several images of a womanKoshchei the Immortal: Koschei the Deathless-donor,Koschei the Deathless-warrior,Koschei the Deathless-kidnapper;

out of 20 analyzed fairy tales in 2Koschei the Deathlessacts as a giver, at 20 - a warrior, and at 20 - a kidnapper;

popular opinion about evilKoshchei the Immortal partiallywrong, and this has been proven through research work. FairyKoschei the Deathless- this is most often a hero opposed to good, necessary for balance in the universe and giving a special flavor to the fairy tale;

imageKoshchei the Immortalso colorful that many foreign and Russian writers, filmmakers, artists, sculptors and other artists turn to its interpretation.

Thus, the hypothesis is thatKoschei the Deathless– a negative character in Russian folk tales, was confirmed. But now we know for sure that only thanks to him the main character becomes a real hero. You should always be very careful when reading any work of fiction, since only thoughtful reading will allow you to make some new discoveries.

Appendix No. 1

Student survey results

« Koschei the Deathlessin Russian folk tales is there a positive hero or a negative one?

The hero symbolizes evil

In some fairy tales he is good, in others he is evil.

86%

14%

Appendix No. 2

Classification of fairy tales by type of Koshchei the Immortal

Koschei the Deathless keeps his word

Koschei the Deathless -warrior

Koschei the Deathless -kidnapper

Koschey the Immortal - villain

Koschey the Immortal - sorcerer

"Vasilisa the Beautiful"

"Marya Morevna"

"The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water"

"Book of Masters"

"Ivan Godinovich"

"After the rain on Thursday"

"Fire, Water and Copper Pipes"

List of used literature:

1. Dal V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language / Comp. Shakhmatova N.V.S.-Petersburg: Publishing House “Ves”, 2004, – 1678 p.

4. Kuznetsov A. N. From time immemorial. – M.: Onyx, 2005, – 325 p.

5. Maksimov S.V. Unclean, unknown and godlike power. – M.: Russian Word, 1995, – 568 p.

6. Propp V. Ya. Historical roots of a fairy tale. – St. Petersburg: Labyrinth, 1996, – 336 p.

7. Russian folk tales. Compiled by Anikin V.P. – M.: Press, 1992, – 560 p.

Video library:

"Book of Masters";

"Fire, water and copper pipes";

"Koschei the Deathless";

"After the rain on Thursday"

"New Year's adventures of Masha and Viti."

The question of who Koschey the Immortal is is still relevant today. Is this folk art or did it have a prototype of some historical figure? Maybe this is generally a figment of the imagination of all times and peoples? And why does this immortal fairy-tale anti-hero have such a strange name? Let's think about all this in more detail...

Koschey the Immortal, who are you?

First of all, we know that this is one of the brightest His appearance is vague, and the options for interpreting the image are contradictory. In addition, his name has a not entirely clear etymology. There are at least two versions of the origin of this dubious fairy-tale (and maybe not fairy-tale) personality:

Version one: folk fiction (folklore)

Koschey the Immortal, whose photo for a number of reasons is not possible to demonstrate to you (only drawings), is endowed with many powers as a folk figure. He turns into a black raven, and sometimes into a flying snake. This allows him to easily and quickly move around the world and different worlds, stealing everything he needs. And what he needs is gold and other riches... Remember how Pushkin said about Koshchei, who languishes over gold? That's how it is. According to folklore, water gives it strength. Having drunk three whole buckets at a time, he is able to tame even the Serpent Gorynych himself! By the way, some researchers in the field of Slavic mythology claim that the images of the Immortal and Gorynych are interchangeable in Russian fairy tales. Both of them simply adore wealth, and also steal beautiful girls! However, Koschey is endowed with a little more power, beyond the control of the Serpent Gorynych.

Version two: real prototype

According to this version, the prototype of the fabulous Koshchei is none other than Saint Kasyan himself. The fact is that the above-mentioned prototype could well have been called Koshchei because of the consonance of these names. In addition, two holidays coincide: the day of Chernobog and the day of St. Kasyan were celebrated by the Slavs at the same time - at the end of February. According to some reports, for this holiday they put on strange outfits in the form of human bones with a crown on their heads, which to this day are popular at children's matinees and in fairy-tale performances. This means the Immortal. Meanwhile, Kasyan did a lot to spread Christianity on earth, but he was still considered evil, not holy!

The meaning of his name

The origin of the name of this fairy-tale character is philological in nature: consonance and general semantics with some words, for example, with blasphemy. "Koschun" is a sorcerer. And indeed: only omnipotent black magicians are immortal, as well as people who turn to dark forces for help (for example,

In addition, in the Old Church Slavonic language the word “koshch” (or “kosht”) means “skinny”, “dry” or “thin”. We all remember the appearance of our anti-hero: skin and bones... Some etymologists say that his name is nothing more than a mythological image of nature ossified and frozen from severe frosts.

Summarize

Let's put all the above thoughts together. So, Koschey the Immortal is a folklore image of ancient Russian fairy tales, which arose due to dubious rumors about Saint Kasyan, supported by such Old Slavonicisms as kosht and koschun. Although small, it is true!

Koschey is the main villain of Russian fairy tales. At least for this reason we should be wary of this character. The absence of fear of the Immortal may mean that you have long been registered in his Koshcheev kingdom.

The most common version of the origin of the name “Koschei” - from the word “bone” and meaning a skinny person - is not in fashion among linguists today. Modern researchers of Russian folklore find cognate words in the Lower Sorbian “ko?tlar” (caster) and in the Old Russian “kast” (abomination, muck, etc.).

Who is Koschey?

Oddly enough, scientists have not yet come to an unambiguous conclusion on this issue. Some see in Koshchei an interpretation of the Slavic god of death from cold Karachun, others - a Russian version of the German god Odin, and others - a somewhat frostbitten sorcerer with pumped-up magical abilities. Many modern folklorists generally call for the rehabilitation of Koshchei, declaring that he is not a villain, but a kind of role model for a participant in the mystery of initiation of a young girl, which is performed by the father of the initiate.

Crimes of Koshchei

In Russian fairy tales, Koschey appears as a powerful sorcerer. Moreover, he was very sophisticated in his magical solutions. So, in the fairy tale “Elena the Beautiful” he turns Ivan Tsarevich into a nut, the princess from “The Frog Princess” he “dresses up” in the skin of an amphibian, and in the fairy tale “Ivan Sosnovich” he easily deals with the whole kingdom, turning it into stone. The villain himself prefers to turn into a raven.

Unsuccessful ladies' man

As a rule, all of Koshchei’s activities are built around young girls. Koschey uses the same failed tactics to win their love: first he spectacularly kidnaps the girl, then unsuccessfully tries to achieve intimacy, and, having failed, turns fairy-tale beauties into frogs or snakes.

Koschey the Gallant

True, there was only one case when the lady reciprocated Koshchei’s feelings. In the epic “About Ivan Godinovich” the Immortal with the exotic patronymic Tripetovich appears as a gallant, courtly gentleman, wooing the Chernigov princess Marya Dmitrievichna. His rival is the treacherous Ivan Godinovich, who kidnaps Koshchei’s bride and takes her to an open field.

Having caught up with the kidnapper, Koschey Tripetovich again asks Beautiful Marya to become his legal wife. And she agrees. The happy couple ties the treacherous Ivan to an oak tree, and they themselves go off to indulge in love in the tent.

Then a raven flies in and begins to croak to the lovers that Marya Dmitrievichna will not be Koshcheeva’s wife, but the wife of Ivan Godinovich. In a fit of righteous anger, the Immortal Romeo shoots at the raven, but the arrow changes its trajectory and kills Koshchei himself.

Unhappy Marya the Beautiful decides to put an end to Ivan, but he cleverly snatches the saber from her and quarters the girl. This is how Koshchei’s only love affair ended tragically.

How to kill Koshchei

In one of the fairy tales, Koschey opened up: “My death is far away: there is an island on the sea on the ocean, 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, and in the egg there is death.” my". Many scientists saw in this “matryoshka” an interpretation of the model of the universe: water (sea-ocean), earth (island), plants (oak), animals (hare), birds (duck), and the oak is the “world tree.” In other words, you can end Koshchei by destroying the world order.

Christian interpretation of Koshchei

Some elders of Northern Rus' interpreted Koshchei as the fallen Adam, and Ivan Tsarevich as a “New Testament man.” In other interpretations of “folk Orthodoxy,” Koschey symbolized the sinful body, the girl he kidnapped was the human soul, and Ivan Tsarevich the spirit. The death of Koshchei was interpreted by these ascetics as the cleansing of the soul from sins. True, modern folklorists consider these interpretations anti-scientific.

Hello, dear students!

Today I won’t take you for a walk, because the one we are going to meet today is no less powerful a sorcerer, and maybe even more so, than Baba Yaga. So, pour some tea, take the buns freshly baked in our oven with a baked cricket, listen to my story and look, - Zhouli waved her hand towards the stove, and everyone turned around and saw that there were pictures hanging on it.

I think everyone guessed that we would talk about Koshchei the Immortal. Most often it is believed that Baba Yaga and Koschey the Immortal are kind of friends. However, it is Baba Yaga who reveals the secret of how to get to Koshchei the Immortal and how to destroy him. Despite the fact that he has such a telling name - Immortal - his death exists. It is at the end of a needle, the needle is in the egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the hare, the hare is in the chest, the chest, tightly chained, hangs on an oak tree (or is buried under an oak tree), which stands on an island in the middle of the sea-ocean.

However, in some fairy tales, the main role in the defeat of Koshchei is played by a magic horse.

Ivan fattened the foal in the green meadows, and it grew into a glorious horse. He rode on horseback for Marya and again took her away from Koshchei. Koschey tried to keep up with them, but now Ivan’s horse was even better than Koschey’s horse. Whether for a long time or for a short time, Koschey caught up with the fugitives and wanted to cut Ivan with a saber, but Ivanov’s horse hit Koschey and crushed his head. Ivan lit a fire and burned Koshchei at the stake, and threw his ashes to the wind

We will talk about magic horses in other lectures.
In another version, Ivan did not burn Koshchei, but finished him off with his club.

It turns out that in different fairy tales we are talking about different Koshchei? This reminds us of the situation with Baba Yaga.

What power does Koschey have?

Can turn into a flying snake or a black raven. So he quickly moves through the worlds and steals what he likes. And he likes beautiful girls and jewelry. Remember Pushkin? “There Tsar Koschey is wasting away over gold.” But no matter how many beauties he brought to him, not one agreed to marry him, and even the countless treasures did not seduce them.

Koschey masterfully wields the magic of transformation. Can turn anyone into anything.

Water gives Koshchei supernatural strength. He drinks three buckets at a time, and then he doesn’t care about breaking the 12 chains on which he is being held in Marya Morevna’s dungeon.

Let us now turn to the very name of this malicious and all-powerful old man.
The Old Slavonic word "kosh" ("kosht") meant "dry, skinny, thin in body." This word is close in meaning to the word “bone” and perfectly characterizes Koshchei himself: a short old man, so skinny that only his bones are visible. A walking skeleton.

Some researchers of Slavic myths believe that the image of Koshchei the Immortal and the Serpent Gorynych in Russian fairy tales are interchangeable: both love wealth and steal beauties. But Koschey is also endowed with other powers that are beyond the control of the Serpent Gorynych. So these are still different creatures.

There is a version that the word “koschey” goes back to “koschun”, which already means a sorcerer. Indeed, only an omnipotent magician, or a person who turned to demonic forces for help, like Faust, could become immortal.

What is immortality? Is this a blessing or a punishment? Perhaps in ancient times there was a ritual for achieving immortality. In any case, archaeologists, while excavating the grave of the founder of the city of Chernigov, Prince Cherny, found a scene depicted in fairy tales: a needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a treasured casket. The ritual of gaining immortality has been forgotten, but its symbol has been preserved - immortelle flowers. Rough and dry to the touch, yellowish, reddish. Whether they grow in the ground or are picked and placed in a glass of water - there is not much difference. They can stand without water and do not change their color. There seems to be life in them, and there seems to be no life. They prefer to plant such flowers on graves. The explanation is this: these flowers are like a border between the living and the dead. We touch them in this world, and the dead touch them in the next.

And although the image of Koshchei the Immortal is so unpleasant, it interests many researchers of Slavic mythology. One of these is Alexander Fomich Veltman (1800-1870) - a prolific writer, founder of the Russian science fiction genre, historian, folklorist, director of the Armory, academician. And although he is the son of a Swedish envoy, he became a true expert and lover of Russian antiquity.

Well, how? Aren't you cold from such a story? If the cold gets through, our tea will quickly drive it away! So pour yourself another cup, and then run to rest. Homework will. What would it be like without him?

1. How many degrees of protection does death have? Tell us why exactly so much.

2. Tell who or what was subjected to Koshcheev’s spell of transformation and how this spell was broken.

3. Now dream up. You have entered the kingdom of Koshcheevo. What did you see there? What they were doing?