Russian folk heroes. Heroes of Russian folk tales

Baba Yaga- character Slavic mythology and folklore (especially fairy tale) Slavic peoples. Old sorceress, endowed magical power. 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 In addition to the name of the hero of fairy tales, the word has two more outdated meanings: “thin (or stingy) person” and, in ancient Russian texts, “captive”.

• 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. Embodies a special fabulous strategy, which does not proceed from the standard postulates of practical reason, but is based on the search for its own solutions, often contradicting 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 - peasant son or the son of an old man with an old woman. He was often the third in the family, 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”, “nonsense”, 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 celebration (victory over the enemy and marriage), in which he is the main participant.

Others have similar tales European peoples. 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:

• a positive character who fights 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, does not know about his royal origin. 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 of the characters and their names change.

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 “Po pike 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 the return of the 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 a 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 a negative character, personifying cunning, deceit, deceit, cunning, and selfishness. IN literary fairy tale The image of the fox became softer compared to the folklore prototype. For example, in folk tales a fox can 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- multi-headed fire-breathing dragon, representative evil beginning 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 only once is it reported about “fiery wings” (the fairy tale “Frolka the Seat”). The body of a snake is not described in fairy tales, but popular prints, depicting a snake, the favorite details are the long arrow tail and clawed paws. One more important feature 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. Except fire element the serpent is also associated with the element of water, 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 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- a character in Russian fairy tales, a huge cannibal cat with in 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 character is given the task of catching a 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 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. Only the youngest son manages to get the firebird. 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; brought into a 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
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• Miracle Yudo

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Fairytale names

Fairytale names- these are the names of the heroes of fairy tales beloved from childhood. Behind every fairy-tale name there is an image, a character, a destiny. People remember fairy tales they read in childhood throughout their lives, and they keep books with their favorite fairy tales for their children.

Fairytale names

Akella

Alyonushka

Alesha Popovich

Baba Yaga

Bagheera

Baloo

Barmaley

Baron Munchausen

Pinocchio

Vasilisa Mikulishna

Vasilisa the Beautiful

Varvara-beautiful

Winnie the Pooh

Ugly duck

Gerda

Danila the master

Father Frost

Grandfather Mazay

Nikitich

Dr. Aibolit

Duremar

Thumbelina

Elena the beautiful

Elena the Wise

Zhikharka

Goldilocks

Dragon

Cinderella

Ivan the Fool

Ivan Tsarevich

Ilya Muromets

Karabas Barabas

Carlson

Koschei the Immortal

Kolobok

The Little Humpbacked Horse

King Thrushbeard

Cat Basilio

Leopold the cat

Cat Matroskin

Cat Purr

Puss in Boots

Little Red Riding Hood

Crocodile Gena

Chicken Ryaba

Fox Alice

Lutonya

Malvina

Thumb Boy

Mowgli

Mickey Mouse

Moidodyr

Marya the Mistress

Marya-marevna

Morozko

Cecotuha fly

Dunno

Nikita Kozhemyaka

Olle-Lukoje

Papa Carlo

Pippi Longstocking

Cockerel-Golden Comb

Princess on the Pea

Postman Pechkin

Pierrot

Prospero

Maya the Bee

Piglet

Mermaid

Ruslan and Ludmila

Sadko

Svetogor the hero

Gray Neck

Silver hoof

Sivka-burka-Prophetic Kaurka

Sineglazka

Scrooge

Snow Maiden

The Snow Queen

Blue Beard

sleeping Beauty

Nightingale the Robber

Suok

The Three Little Pigs - Nif-nif, Naf-naf and Nuf-nuf

Tugarin-snake

Fedot the Sagittarius

Finist-clear falcon

Foka of all trades doc

Mistress Copper Mountain

Brave Little Tailor

Swan Princess

Princess Frog

Tsarevna-Nesmeyana

Tsar-Pea

King Dodon

Tsar Saltan

Cheburashka

Turtle Tortilla

Chernavka

Chernomor

Cippolino

Miracle Yudo

Shamakhan queen

Shapoklyak

Sherkhan

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Fairytale names

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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, defend his native land and defend the honor of his sister. But in the fairy tale “Ivan Tsarevich and Gray wolf» more positive character a wolf appears, 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”, “At the Order of the Pike” 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 are Vasilisa the Beautiful and the Wise. The Russian beauty is primarily distinguished by her intelligence and kindness; she helps her chosen one to defeat evil with cunning and ingenuity, to get magic item or guides him wisely. Oddly enough, in some fairy tales even Baba Yaga, who supplies the traveler, can be positive parting words, ancient knowledge and provides 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. Collective image the 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 Arabian fairy 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”. famous fairy tales She told it specifically 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 chaste and faithful woman, and now he repents 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. Some stories from there were known long before the cycle appeared. 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 had a great 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 tales we had figurative representation about all the characters, about Vodyanoy, Baba Yaga, Koshchei the Immortal, Ivan Tsarevich, Alyonushka, Varvara Kras, and many more. Fairy tales taught us to recognize good and evil. In every story the heroes can be distinguished between good and bad traits. And every main character contains certain meaning. For example:
1. Ivan Tsarevich is one of the most important heroes of Russian folk tales. Usually in a fairy tale he is shown as a positive hero. His characteristic qualities are kindness, honesty and nobility. In every fairy tale, Ivan helps people, saves a princess or defeats an enemy. Ivan teaches every person to listen to his heart, and if something bad happens, not to lose heart.
2. A frequently mentioned hero from fairy tales is the Snow Maiden. She appears to readers as tender, vulnerable, and purely soulful. The Snow Maiden embodies all the most best qualities that every woman should have. The Snow Maiden always has unusual beauty in fairy tales. She teaches us that everything that is not done from the heart will not succeed, and also that we should not stop at any difficulties. If you want something, you need to strive for it, and then everything will work out.
3. But our children like not only positive heroes, but also negative ones. For example, Baba Yaga is admired by many. This character is involved in almost every fairy tale. Baba Yaga lives in a big 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 from under the guise. 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 negative trait, dwarves are too hungry 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 makes a lot of sense. 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.

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Russian folk tales with their amazing heroes familiar to us all from an early age.

Russian folk tales are the most beloved and popular genre Russian folklore and introduce readers to the history and culture of their ancestors. Russian folk tales- this is a treasure trove folk wisdom. In their entertaining, engaging form, they contain deep instructive meaning. Thanks to Russian folk tale, children open the world, get acquainted with the concepts of honor and conscience, using the example of relationships fairy-tale heroes learn goodness and justice.

Russian nationalFairy tales can be divided into three types: magical, about animals, and everyday, satirical. All of them came to us from those distant times when everyone natural phenomena and things were given a magical, sacred explanation. Therefore many mythological heroes, such as Vodyanoy, Kikimora Bolotnaya, Leshy, mermaids and brownies are associated with the elemental forces of nature and pagan beliefs.

Main hero in Russian folk fairy tale usually combined noble human qualities: such as courage, honesty, fearlessness, mercy and integrity. Ivan Tsarevich, the heroes, the peasant son Ivan the fool, Emelya, they all went through trials and tribulations, and in the end Russian folkfairy tales evil forces were victorious. Often, positive hero accompanied by assistants, a gray wolf, symbolizing intelligence and cunning, or a horse, personifying devotion and fidelity.

Women's images that meet in fairy tales, They also had kindness, a bright mind, wisdom and tenderness. Vasilisa the Wise, Elena the Beautiful, Marya the Princess, and the Snow Maiden were endowed not only with great beautiful appearance, but also with a pure soul.

Positive heroesRussian folk tales, usually opposed dark forces, mysterious and insidious characters. Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, Serpent Gorynych, Nightingale the Robber are the most popular fairy-tale villains who brought harm to people, knew how to cast magic and expressed the people’s idea of ​​cruelty and greed.

Heroes of Russian folk tales Often there were animals and birds that lived and acted like people. In each fairy tale story with animals, human types are allegorically described, with their different characters and vices. These fairy-tale characters are numerous - a bear, a wolf, a hare, a goat, a rooster, a chicken, a cat, a pig, a crane and a heron, and, of course, sly Fox, which met in Russian fairy tales more often than everyone else.

Russian folk tales They are so unique in their poetry and content, they so vividly convey the spirit of the Russian people that interest in them does not decrease over time. Although more modern language, fairy tales continue to be told in families and are filmed by animators, making children and adults laugh and empathize with their heroes.

Ivan the Fool

Ivan the Fool, or Ivanushka the Fool - one of the main characters Russian folk 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 J. 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.

Emelya

Emelya is 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 anything, even easy work. 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 (the pike becomes the “magic assistant” of the 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's interesting that when managing your 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.

Baba Yaga

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

Baba Yaga has several stable attributes: she can cast magic, fly in a mortar, lives in the forest, in a hut on chicken legs, surrounded by a fence of human bones with skulls. Baba Yaga has the ability to shrink in size - this is how she moves in the mortar. She lures you to her good fellows and small children and roasts them in the oven. She pursues her victims in a mortar, chasing them with a pestle and covering the trail with a broom (broom). There are three types of Baba Yaga: the giver (she gives the hero a fairy-tale horse or a magical object); child abductor; Baba Yaga is a warrior, fighting with whom “to the death”, the hero of the fairy tale moves to a different level of maturity.

Koschey (Kashchei)

Koschey is associated with the element of water: water gives Koschey supernatural power. After drinking three buckets of water brought to him by Ivan Tsarevich, Koschey breaks 12 chains and frees himself from Marya Morevna’s dungeon.

Koshchei the Immortal was represented as a skeleton, crowned with a crown, with a sword, sitting on a skeletal horse, and Koshchei was called Kostey the Soulless. He, according to legend, sowed quarrels and anger, and his horse personified the death of all livestock. She spread a variety of diseases that killed domestic animals.

In text Russian folk tales Koshchei’s enemy is Baba Yaga, who gives the main character information on how to kill him, but sometimes they are at the same time. Koshchei has many enemies, but few of them survived their meeting with him.

The word “koschey” in the 12th century meant a slave, a captive.

Dragon

Serpent Gorynych is a multi-headed fire-breathing dragon, a representative of the evil principle in Russian folk tales and epics.

The many-headed nature of a snake is its indispensable feature. IN different fairy tales the number of heads of the snake varies: there are 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12. Most often the snake appears three-headed. In most cases, the kite has the ability to fly, but, as a rule, nothing is said about its wings. The body of a snake is not described in fairy tales, but in popular prints depicting a snake, the favorite details are a long arrow-shaped 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 snake is also the Serpent Gorynych and lives in the mountains. 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.

Firebird

The Firebird is a fairy-tale bird, a character in Russian fairy tales, 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, 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: heat is a bird as the personification of fire, light, sun. She eats 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, brought into a 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.

Father Frost

Grandfather Frost (Dedko Morozko) is a character in Russian legends, in Slavic mythology he is a personification winter frosts, a blacksmith who binds water; in modern times - the main fairy-tale character at the New Year holiday, a local version of the Christmas gift-giver.

Frost (Morozko, Treskun, Studenets) is a Slavic mythological character, the lord of the winter cold. The ancient Slavs imagined him in the form of a short old man with a long gray beard. His breath is a strong cold. His tears are icicles. Frost - frozen words. Hair is snow clouds. Frost's wife is Winter herself. In winter, Frost runs through fields, forests, streets and knocks with his staff. From this knock, the bitter frost freezes rivers, streams, and puddles with ice.

Often depicted in a blue or red fur coat with a long white beard and a staff in his hand, wearing felt boots. Rides three horses. Inseparable from his granddaughter, Snegurochka.

Initially, he had only blue (mostly) and white fur coats in his wardrobe, but in the middle of the 20th century he changed into a red fur coat. Changing the color of the suit played two roles: on the one hand, the red color was national color USSR, on the other hand, the red color echoed the color of Santa Claus's fur coat, which was popular in Europe.

Snow Maiden

Snow Maiden - new year character Russian legends, granddaughter of Santa Claus. However, among the Slavs, Snegurochka was considered the daughter of Frost and Spring.

The image of the Snow Maiden is unique to Russian culture. In the New Year and Christmas mythology of other peoples of the world there are no female characters. In Russian folklore, she appears as a character in a folk tale about a girl made of snow who came to life.