What I liked about the fairy tale: porridge from an axe. Russian folk tale "Porridge from an Axe": animated version and variations of plot interpretations
Let’s continue to work with this important tool for a fairytale therapist—“shadow analysis” of a fairy tale—using the example of the fairy tale “Porridge from an Axe.”
Let us recall the main question of shadow analysis once again: “So what is not named in this fairy tale, but most likely is?”
Re-read this short story! And here are the key phrases for “guessing”.
They lie on the surface and are difficult to miss.
The soldier reached the village, knocked on extreme hut Is there anything to eat?
"Oh, good man, “I haven’t eaten anything yet today—nothing.” , answers the old woman.
“Well, no, no,” the soldier says. Then he noticed an ax under the bench.
Dear reader! Aren't you scared yet? Didn't see the plot of the Hitchcock film? After all, this story is about how a serving soldier unraveled, disarmed and neutralized a serial killer! A creepy woman - a cannibalistic peasant woman.
It is noteworthy and true that she lived in an extreme hut - away from the village, closer to the road along which defenseless people, strangers, walk.
In folklore, the fairy tale hero “Soldier” always defeats the witch... (Remember the fairy tale “Flint”!)
Moreover, it disarms her; this motif is also found in Porridge from the Axe.
This mission of the “soldier” is explained by a high archetypal understanding of what there is in general – a “warrior”, a “defender”... Why is a “Man with a Gun” needed? Vaccination against cheap pacifism.
These tales are thus an apology, justification, and high glorification of the Warrior profession.
But not everyone loves soldiers, and they don’t always have a good reputation...
They are looked at askance when they come home from the war, they are afraid, they cannot and do not want to find them a peaceful occupation.
It is because of such “fears” and “dislikes”, which are often an ungrateful reaction of the civilian population to those who served and fought for them, that the people themselves came up with these fairy tales, explaining “why are soldiers”...
Such fairy tales restore justice by reminding us that a soldier is a brother of the heavenly army of angels, who are also soldiers and also constantly wage the “Invisible War” (battle) with the forces of darkness.
What to do after being transferred to the reserve?
For the fairy-tale character of the “soldier”, the war always continues - therefore he is always on guard, vigilant, knows that “peace” is a relative concept and that only death itself will send him into retirement.
It’s not for nothing that former military personnel often pull children out of rivers - they’re just always on the alert...
So, a soldier is never “on leave.” If you are a true defender of the weak and the right and a fighter against Evil, there will always be work and bread for you.
This is the deep archetype of all fairy tales about cheerful, cunning and cheerful “serving soldiers” about life...
Surely you remember how a 4-legged old guard veteran (dog) saved a baby from an “evil wolf” who was “dragging him into the forest.” But this is already humor...
Let's return to the shadow analysis of the fairy tale “Porridge from the Axe”
So, as fairy tale therapy says, it is “not named” that the old woman most likely held an ax for killing and eating travelers. This is the “Shadow” of this fairy tale...
But there is another layer of “Shadow”. There is one more thing that is not directly named in this tale, but most likely it is there.
In order for a woman (especially an old one) to kill an adult man by profession “Soldier” with an ax, she must have fabulous strength. Since this is an everyday tale and the peasant woman is not Baba Yaga, we are looking for the answer elsewhere. Okay, the ax is under the bench. Where does the old woman hide the bottle of moonshine?..
Here we come to the main shadow archetype of this tale!
This archetype is tragic. Too often, weak and cowardly women try to tame and stop being afraid of a man and gain power over him by dousing him with alcohol.
Getting a hefty soldier drunk in order to actually eat him is the most vivid archetype. The strongest invariant. In real life, he has a dozen softer and weakened options.
So, the fairy tale does not mention that the old woman most likely kept “wine” in the house to intoxicate and lull the vigilance of physically strong and intelligent passers-by.
The fairy tale “Porridge from an Axe” and “the ability to refuse”
Note that when the old woman and the soldier finally sat down to eat hot and fresh vegetarian porridge, he did not ask, and she did not offer to “pour a glass for the long-awaited dinner.”
It is possible that the refusal of the glass sounded even earlier - at the very beginning of their communication and in a very firm and unambiguous form - even on the threshold where the old woman greeted the guest.
Or maybe, having seen an ax under the bench, the soldier only then experienced insight, and for the first time a suspicion flashed through his mind - how the “charms” in this hospitable house ended.
This story teaches us the right strategies:
Be vigilant! First, look around the house - what kind of people are they?
Don't become a slave to alcohol cravings
know how to refuse, “offending the owner”, “breaking tradition”,
even lie: “I can’t drink.”
The fact that the soldier was hardly a teetotaler is valuable. Otherwise, the price of his persistence would not exist at all. What kind of feat is it to give up a cigarette when you don’t smoke?..
The value of the lesson of the fairy tale is that the soldier knows in what place and with whom he can share the “front-line hundred grams”, and in what situations such “relaxation” entails a set-up trap and death.
Minor consequences of the insidious “female” strategy - the archetype: “Get drunk to kill and eat”
-
get the job done cheaply
keep it with you forever ("
who needs him, such a drinker?"),
make artificially kinder, more cheerful, more disposed, more talkative, more generous,
to find out the secret (“truth”),
to make him weaker and thereby stop being afraid,
to put someone else's blame on him,
deprive of memory and then instill your own false version of events,
deprive one of his reputation in society and gain complete power over him.
give you something to drink to induce you to have sexual intercourse,
get pregnant,
Isn’t it true that all this is not so far from the fairy-tale archetype: “Get drunk in order to kill and eat”?
We talked about the old woman's strategies. A wonderful shadow analysis of the fairy tale helped us figure them out.
The old witch's strategies turned out to be completely unsuccessful. After all, without the glass, the ax in her hands is a useless thing, and the soldier refused the glass.
But we haven't yet figured out one great soldier strategy. Let’s talk about her one last time.
How did the soldier from the fairy tale “Porridge from an Axe” distract and hypnotize the cannibal killer?
Yes, in the same way that another Hero, Ostap Bender, hypnotized another cannibal, Ellochka. Because she was interested. (Ellochka was interested in listening to conversations about what a socialite she is and what is now in fashion in the best houses of Europe). Meanwhile, Bender was taking the chair.
The soldier put on a slightly different show for the old woman - a culinary one.
In the fairy tale we read: “The old woman looks at the soldier and does not take her eyes off.” And he cooks everything, juggles everything with pepper shakers and salt shakers...
That's what customer focus is! How can you distract and entice a stupid cannibal? Only what interests her! There is one thing she is fixated on, and she hardly hides it.
On the topic of food - that's it!
That's why the cunning soldier showed the always hungry glutton a cooking show.
If he began to enthusiastically tell her, diverting her attention, about how he vacationed in Turkey, the old woman would not fall into a trance.
Thus, the soldier created a competent “adjustment” to an insane and potentially dangerous person.
This is how security guards, police officers and psychiatrists behave with violent scagndalists and drunken nightclub patrons.
They tune in to the rhythm, assent, nod, give echoes, and then slowly lead them out, tie them up, take them away, or simply escape from the danger of being near such a person.
The old woman was tuned in to the topic of food - so the soldier did not disturb her from her favorite rhythm.
As a conclusion
The shadow analysis of the fairy tale “Porridge from an Ax” raised many important topics. But the most important one for us, it seems, is this one.
Do not fool yourself with flattery, hospitality and the “charms” of people who seem weak to you.
Especially if you don’t know them well, and they live in some very “far away” hut.
In order to notice in time, out of the corner of a sober eye, an ax lying under their bench.
So, in the Russian fairy tale, a gallant soldier disarmed and practically doomed a vile witch to starvation. He pulled out the snake's poisonous teeth.
By this, of course, he saved more than one life and cleared the way for all strangers to him - the Travelers. This is the great pathos of this old fairy tale. The feat was epic, almost heroic.
It is enough for us that thanks to the lesson of this fairy tale we will be able to save our own - one life.
The folk tale “Porridge from an Axe” talks about how ingenuity can help out in life. The soldier asked to spend the night with the old woman, but she was greedy and did not even let him eat. But the serviceman turned out to be more cunning: he offered to cook porridge from an ax, but he got the real thing, and even with butter.
Fairy tale Porridge from an ax download:
Read the fairy tale Porridge from an ax
The old soldier was on leave. I'm tired from the journey and want to eat. I reached the village, knocked on the last hut:
Let the dear man rest! The door was opened by an old woman.
Come in, servant.
Do you, hostess, have anything to snack on? The old woman had plenty of everything, but she was stingy with feeding the soldier and pretended to be an orphan.
Oh, good man, I myself haven’t eaten anything today: nothing.
Well, no, no, the soldier says. Then he noticed an ax under the bench.
If there is nothing else, you can cook porridge with an axe.
The hostess clasped her hands:
How can you cook porridge from an ax?
Here's how, give me the boiler.
The old woman brought a cauldron, the soldier washed the ax, lowered it into the cauldron, poured water and put it on the fire.
The old woman looks at the soldier, does not take her eyes off.
The soldier took out a spoon and stirred the brew. I tried it.
Well, how? - asks the old woman.
“It will be ready soon,” the soldier replies, “it’s just a pity that there is nothing to add salt to.”
I have salt, salt it.
The soldier added salt and tried it again.
Good! If only I could get a handful of cereal here! The old woman began to fuss and brought a bag of cereal from somewhere.
Take it, fill it up as needed. Seasoned the brew with cereal. I cooked, cooked, stirred, tried. The old woman looks at the soldier with all her eyes, and cannot look away.
Oh, and the porridge is good! - the soldier licked his lips. “If only a little butter would come here, it would be completely delicious.”
The old woman also found oil.
The porridge was flavored.
Well, old woman, now give me some bread and get to work with a spoon: let’s start eating porridge!
“I didn’t think that you could cook such a good porridge from an ax,” the old woman marvels.
The two of us ate porridge. The old woman asks:
Servant! When will we eat the axe?
“Yes, you see, it’s not cooked down,” the soldier answered, “I’ll finish cooking it somewhere on the road and have breakfast!”
He immediately hid the ax in his backpack, said goodbye to the hostess and went to another village.
That's how the soldier ate the porridge and took away the ax!
Literary analysis
Russian folk tale “Porridge from an axe”
Brief description of the time of writing.
Russian folk tales were created by the people and passed on from mouth to mouth. The tale was written down in ancient times. Previously, fairy tales were called “tales” from the word “bayat”, i.e. speak. In its modern meaning, the word “fairy tale” has come to us since the 17th century. Everyday tales largely reflect the essence of our everyday life. Sometimes the plots and situations in such stories are so real that when reading them, one involuntarily gets the feeling that we ourselves are living them day after day. In fairy tales there is a place for humor and colorful characters, but there is practically no magic and miracles. But, despite the lack of fantastic landscapes and mythical characters, reading everyday fairy tales brings children a lot of positive emotions.
2. Genre of the work - This is a folk tale - a work of oral folk art, fictional in content and prosaic in form. A type of fairy tale is an everyday one, the hero of such a fairy tale is an ordinary person, for example, a soldier, a peasant or a blacksmith.
3. Theme of the work - How a soldier cooked porridge, outwitting the old woman.
4. Idea of the work – Guess, ingenuity and resourcefulness help in life. Proverbs that fit the meaning:
The stingy one lives poorly: the stingy one is afraid that a guest will come to him.
A resourceful person feeds a hundred heads, but a fool cannot feed himself.
5. The idea is revealed through:
A. Plot. An old soldier was on leave, tired and hungry. I asked to go to one of the huts to rest. Only the greedy housewife got caught and didn’t want to feed her. Then the resourceful soldier offered to cook porridge from an axe. The surprised old woman gave her grains, salt, and oil to add to the water for the axe. We sat down to eat, the porridge turned out delicious. And the soldier not only ate, but also took the ax with him!
B. Composition.
The beginning " The old soldier was on leave."
Main part, which tells how a soldier cooked porridge.
The ending. " That’s how the soldier ate the porridge and took away the ax!”
B. Characteristics of the characters
The old woman personifies a greedy, lazy, stupid person (The old woman was greedy, she didn’t even offer the soldier a snack, she said that she had nothing to eat in the house.).
The soldier personifies an intelligent, savvy person (The soldier turned out to be resourceful and savvy and offered to cook porridge from the old woman’s axe. He put the cauldron on the fire, put the ax in it and poured water. Then he jokingly asked the old woman for salt, a handful of cereals, and butter. When the porridge was cooked , invited the old woman to eat. The old woman asked, when will we eat the ax? The soldier replied that it had not yet been cooked down and took it with him.).
G. The language of fairy tales close to the spoken language of the people. It is simple, but at the same time it is distinguished by its imagery and colorful language expressions. The tale is mainly built on dialogues. There is colloquial vocabularyopened, brew. There are epithetskind (person), kind (porridge). Exclamatory intonation is often usedLet the dear man rest!/ Good! If only I could get a handful of cereal here!/ Oh, and the porridge is good!/ Well, old woman, now give me some bread and get to work on the spoon: let’s start eating porridge!/ “Yes, you see, it’s not cooked down,” answered the soldier, “I’ll finish cooking it somewhere on the road and have breakfast!”
6. Author on the side of goodness and ingenuity. Makes fun of the old woman's greed and stupidity. And emphasizes the soldier's intelligence -That's how the soldier ate the porridge and took away the ax!
7. Cognitive, educational, aesthetic value of the work. The fairy tale introduces Russian folklore and the life of the Russian people. Introducing children to oral folk art. Develops imagination. Develops speech.
The main characters of the tale are a soldier and an old woman. The soldier came to the old woman's quarters and asked for food. At first the old woman tried to pretend to be deaf, but it didn’t work. Then she said that she had nothing to cook food from.
To this, the soldier invited the old woman to cook porridge from an axe. The old woman became curious: how can you cook porridge from an ax? She gave the soldier an ax, and he put the ax in a pot to boil.
After some time, the soldier tried the brew and said that he needed to add a little grain to the axe. The old woman brought him cereals. Then they added oil to the porridge in the same way, and when everything was ready, the soldier told the old woman to get salt and bread. They sat down to eat porridge.
After eating the porridge, the old woman asked the soldier when they would eat the ax? The soldier replied that the ax was not finished cooking, and he would finish cooking it later. After this, the soldier put the ax in his backpack and went to another village.
This is the summary of the tale.
The main idea of the fairy tale “Porridge from an Ax” is that a soldier’s ingenuity helps in life. The tight-fisted housewife did not want to spend food on the soldier, but he was not at a loss and found a way to outwit her.
A fairy tale teaches not to get lost in difficult situations and to be smart.
In the fairy tale “Porridge from an Axe,” I liked the soldier who managed to eat in the house of a stingy housewife, and even got hold of an axe.
What proverbs fit the fairy tale “Porridge from an Axe”?
A stingy person spends twice.
You can't make porridge with him.
A stupid person grows sour, but a smart person thinks.
Sometimes you don't need a scientist, but you need a smart one.
