Russian Fairy Tales (Part 1)
I love russian fairy tales so much, they are awesome. So, i decided to tell you about some popular fairy tales and baze literature theory of fairy tales. If you dont want to read the materiel - scroll down to the first bold header.
In general, fairy tales are divided into: fairy tales about animals, magical fairy tales, everyday tales.
Tales of animals stand out in a special group by the nature of the characters. They are subdivided into types of animals. The fairy tales about plants, inanimate nature (frost, sun, wind), objects.
Human in fairy tales about animals: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1) plays a secondary role. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2) occupies a position equivalent to an animal
Classification of tales of animals:
 A cumulative tale about animals.
 The fairy tale about animals
Magic fairy tales have a specific poetics and are built on traditional cliches:
âOnce upon a time, there wereâ (жОлО-бŃлО /zhiyly-biyly/); âIn a certain kingdom, in a certain stateâ (Đ ĐœĐ”ĐșĐŸŃĐŸŃĐŸĐŒ ŃĐ°ŃŃŃĐČĐ”, ĐČ ĐœĐ”ĐșĐŸŃĐŸŃĐŸĐŒ ĐłĐŸŃŃĐŽĐ°ŃŃŃĐČĐ” /v nekotorom tcarstve, v nekotorom gosudarstve)
âSoon the tale affects, but not soon things are doneâ (ĐĄĐșĐŸŃĐŸ ŃĐșĐ°Đ·ĐșĐ° ŃĐșĐ°Đ·ŃĐČĐ°Đ”ŃŃŃ, ĐŽĐ° ĐœĐ” ŃĐșĐŸŃĐŸ ĐŽĐ”Đ»ĐŸ ЎДлаДŃŃŃ /skoro skazka skasyvaetsya, da ne skoro delo delayetsya/)
âI was there, I drank honey-beer, my mustache flowed, but I did not get into my mouthâ (ĐŻ ŃĐ°ĐŒ бŃĐ», ĐŒĐ”ĐŽ пОĐČĐŸ пОл, ĐżĐŸ ŃŃĐ°ĐŒ ŃĐ”ĐșĐ»ĐŸ, Đ° ĐČ ŃĐŸŃ ĐœĐ” ĐżĐŸĐżĐ°Đ»ĐŸ /ya tam byl, myod-pivo peel, po usam teklo, a v rot ne popalo/)
2. Common for all the tales of the place. (The same episodes that occur in all fairy tales):
The arrival of Ivan Tsarevich to Baba Yaga.
A cliched description of the portrait of Baba Yaga - âBaba Yaga - Bony legâ (Đаба Яга - ĐșĐŸŃŃŃĐœĐ°Ń ĐœĐŸĐłĐ° /Baba Yaga - costyannaya noga/)
The cliched formula questions-answers - âWhere do you go?â (ĐŃĐŽĐ° ĐżŃŃŃ ĐŽĐŸŃĐŸĐłŃ ĐŽĐ”ŃжОŃŃ? /Kuda puyt dorogu derzhish?/)
Constant epithets - âgirl-beautyâ (ĐșŃĐ°ŃĐœĐ° ĐŽĐ”ĐČĐžŃĐ° /krasna devitca/)
Also in all fairy tales there are magical items, threefold narrative, retardation.
A characteristic feature of everyday fairy tales is the reproduction of everyday life in them. The conflict of everyday fairy tales often consists in the fact that decency, honesty, nobility under the guise of simplicity and naivety are opposed to those qualities of personality that always aroused sharp rejection of the people (greed, anger, envy).
In most fairy tales there are clearly distributed functions (donor, antagonist, assistant, princess, hero).These functions are shared between the characters.
And now the most interesting. Iâm afraid I can not translate the full text of fairy tales (you can google it yourself). But Iâll briefly talk about the plot. Lets go!
Tsarevna-lyagushka (The Frog Princess)
The king had three sons. And the time has come for them to marry. The king ordered his sons to shoot an arrow and find a bride where the arrow would fall. The eldest son had an arrow in the boyar courtyard, at the middle in the merchantâs house, and at the younger one in the swamp where the frog lived. Ivan Tsarevich became sad, but he took the frog as his wife.
 On the next day after the wedding, the king ordered his sonsâ wives to bake a loaf. Ivan Tsarevich became sad, because how the frog bakes a loaf? The Frog princess laid the prince to bed and threw off the frog skin and turned Vasilissa the Wise. By the morning she baked a loaf and, turning back to the frog, gave it to Ivan Tsarevich. The king approved the loaf and gave the following order: sew the carpet. Ivan Tsarevich became sad, because a frog can make a carpet? The Frog princess laid the prince to bed and threw off the frog skin and turned Vasilissa the Wise. By the morning she made a carpet and, turning back to the frog, gave it to Ivan Tsarevich.The king approved the carpet and gave the following order: to bring the wives to a feast to see which one is better at dancing. Ivan Tsarevich became sad, because how can a frog dance? The frog laid the tsarevitch to bed, and in the morning ordered him to go to the palace first. Ivan Tsarevich went to the feast. His brothers laughed at him, why he did not take his wife. Soon the carriage drove up to the palace and out of it came Vasilissa the Wise. At the feast the Princess danced better than anyone.Toward the end of the feast Ivan Tsarevich seized a moment and ran home to burn a frog skin. When the Princess returned from the feast and did not find a frog skin, she said: "Ah, Ivan Tsarevich, what have you done? If you had waited three more days, I would be your forever.â Now, farewell, look for me from Koshchei the Immortal. You wear out a pair of iron boots, like youâll eat out three iron loaves - only then will you find meâ Said, turned white swan and flew out the window.
 Ivan Tsarevich went to seek his wife. On the way, he met an old man who gave him a ball of thread that would lead Ivan Tsarevich to Koshchei. On the way he met a bear, a duck, a hare, a pike, which he wants to kill, but he pities them. Next, Ivan Tsarevich meets Baba Yaga, who tells Ivan how to kill the Koshchei. A bear, a duck, a hare, a pike help Ivan get a needle in which the death of Koshey is concluded. Ivan Tsarevich breaks this needle and releases Vasilissa the Wise.
Events develop around a small fairy tale house - a tower, standing in the field. Different animals, running past the house, are interested, and whose it is, and gradually populated. The first inhabitant of home was the mouse-norushka, nicknamed so for the fact that she used to live in a burrow. The second inhabitant is a frog-cuckoo, which received a nickname for constantly croaking. The third resident is a rabbit-pobegaychik. This trio - kind and friendly animals. Then they are joined by predators - in the beginning, the fox-sister, and then the wolf.
A predatory couple - a wolf and a fox - are much larger in size than a mouse, a frog and a hare, but they get to be neighbors, and even sing songs. But then the bearded bear remarks for himself, and can not resist. He also wants to join its inhabitants, but can not get inside - he is the biggest. Having made a heroic decision to live not inside, but outside - on the roof - the bear tumbles down the house. Other animals manage to jump out, and remain alive. And then they decide to build a new house, bigger than the previous house, capable of accommodating all.
Grandfather grew turnips. Turnip grown large. Independently he could not pull it out. He called for help grandmother. Together pulled the turnip - nothing happened. Grandmother called her granddaughter. They tried to pull the three of them together - again nothing happened. Granddaughter called the Zhuchka. The four of us could not pull out the turnip. She called the cat. And five of us could not pull out the turnip. The cat called the mouse. Only six could pull out the turnip. Only together, the whole family and all the pets, were able to pull out the turnip.
Gusi-Lebedi ( Geese-Swans )
Parents leave for work, telling their daughter not to walk from the yard and take care of the younger brother. But the girl puts her brother under the window, and she runs to the street. Geese-swans meanwhile take the brother away on the wings. Sister runs after the geese-swans. On the way she meets the stove, the apple tree, the milk river - the jelly banks. At them the girl asks about her brother, but the stove asks her to eat the pirozhok, apple tree - an apple, the river- kiselka with milk. The picky girl does not agree. She meets a hedgehog, who points her way. He comes to the hut on his chicken legs, looks in there - and there Baba Yaga and brother. The girl takes away the brother, and the geese-swans fly after her in pursuit.
The girl asks the river to hide it and agrees to eat a kissel. Then she hides the apple tree, and the girl has to eat a wood apple, then she hides in the oven and eats a rye pie. Geese do not see it and fly away with nothing.
A girl and a brother come running home, and then just the father and mother come.
The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, Firebird and the Gray Wolf
The king Vyslav Andronovich has three sons: Dmitry, Vasily and Ivan. Every night a fever bird flies into the royal garden and bites golden apples on the Tsarâs beloved apple tree. Tsar Vyslav promises the heir to the kingdom to make that of the sons who catch the firebird. First goes to the garden to watch her Dmitry Tsarevich, but falls asleep at his post. The same happens with Vasily-Tsarevich. And Ivan Tsarevich lies in wait for the fire-bird, grabs, but it escapes, leaving only a feather in his hands.
The king orders his children to find and bring him a firebird. The older brothers go separately from the younger. Ivan Tsarevich comes to the post on which it is written: the one who will go straight will be hungry and cold, to the right - he will be alive, but he will lose the horse, to the left - he will lose his life, and the horse will live. The prince goes to the right. He meets a gray wolf who kills his horse, but agrees to serve Ivan Tsarevich and takes him to King Dolmat, who has a cage with a firebird in the garden. The wolf advises the bird to take, but does not touch the cage. But the prince takes a cage, there comes a thud and thunder, the watchman catches him and leads him to the king. King Dolmat agrees to forgive the prince and give him a firebird, if he leads him a golden-haired horse. Then the wolf carries Ivan Tsarevich to King Afron - he has a sturdy horse in his stables. The wolf convinces not to touch the bridle, but the prince does not obey him. Again, Ivan Tsarevich is caught, and the king promises to give him the horse, if the prince brings in return Helena the Beautiful. Then the wolf kidnaps Elena the Fair, rushes her and Ivan Tsarevich to King Afron. But the prince felt sorry for giving the princess Afrona. The wolf assumes the form of Elena, and King Afron gladly gives the prince a horse for the imaginary princess.
And the wolf escapes from King Afron and overtakes Ivan Tsarevich.
After that, he takes the form of a golden horse, and the prince takes him to King Dolmat. He, in turn, gives the firebird to the prince. And the wolf again takes on his appearance and resorts to Ivan Tsarevich. The wolf carries Ivan Tsarevich to the place where his horse was torn, and bids farewell to him. The prince and the royal go on. They stop to rest and fall asleep. Dmitry Tsarevich and Vasily-Tsarevich find them sleeping, they kill their brother, they take away the horse and the fire-bird. The princess, on pain of death, orders everyone to remain silent and take her with her. Dmitry Tsarevich is going to marry her.
A gray wolf finds the body of Ivan the Tsarevich. He waits for the ravens to appear and grabs the corn. The raven-father promises to bring dead and living water if the wolf does not touch his offspring. The crows fulfill their promise, the wolf sprinkles the body dead, and then with live water. The prince comes to life, and the wolf carries him to the kingdom of King Vyslav. Ivan Tsarevich is at the wedding of his brother with Elena the Beautiful. At the sight of it, Elena the Beautiful decides to tell the whole truth. And then the king puts the eldest sons in prison, and Ivan Tsarevich marries Elena the Beautiful.
The old man, dying, asks for his three sons, so that they alternately spend one night at his grave. The elder brother does not want to spend the night on the grave, but asks the younger, Ivan the fool, to spend the night here. Ivan agrees. At midnight, the father comes out of the grave. He summons the bogatyr horse a Sivka-Burka and tells him to serve his son. The middle brother acts the same way as the elder brother. Again Ivan lies at the grave, and at midnight the same thing happens. On the third night, when Ivanâs turn comes, everything repeats itself.
The king throws a cry: who will tear the portrait of the princess, on the fly (that is, on a towel) painted, with a high house, then the princess will marry. The older and middle brothers are going to watch the portrait being torn off. A fool begs for them, the brothers give him a three-legged mare, and they themselves leave. Ivan also calls for a gray-haired burka, he climbs in one ear, climbs into another and becomes a good man. He goes to get a portrait.
The horse jumps high, but does not reach the portrait for only three logs. The brothers see this. Returning home, they tell their wives about the young man, but do not know that this is their brother. The next day, the same thing happens - Ivan again just does not get enough. The third time he tears off the portrait.
The king invites people of all classes to feast. Ivan the fool also comes and sits behind the stove. The princess treats the guests and looks: who gets tired of the fly with the portrait? But she does not see Ivan. Feast goes on the next day, but the princess again does not find the condemned. For the third time she discovers a fool Ivan with a portrait and happily leads to his father. The brothers of Ivan are amazed.
They are playing a wedding. Ivan, having dressed and cleaned up, becomes a brave man: ânot Ivan the fool, and Ivan is the royal son-in-lawâ.
Nesmeyana-Tsarevna lives in the royal chambers and never smiles, does not laugh. The king promises to marry Nesmeyana to the one who will be able to cheer her up. Everyone tries to do it, but nobody succeeds.
And on the other end of the kingdom lives an employee. His master is a kind man. At the end of the year he puts a bag of money in front of the employee: âTake as much as you want!â And he takes only one money, and that one drops into the well. He works for the master for another year. At the end of the year, the same thing happens, and again the poor worker drops his money into the water. And in the third year he takes a coin, comes to the well and sees: the two previous money have surfaced. He takes them and decides to see the white light. A mouse, a bug, and a catfish with a big mustache are begging him for money. Remains the employee again with nothing. He comes to the city, sees Nesmeyanu-the princess in the window and falls into the mud before her eyes. At once are the mouse, the bug and the catfish: they help, the dress is removed, the boots are cleaned. The princess, laughing at their services, laughs. The king asks who causes the laughter. The princess points to the worker. And then the king gives Nesmeyanu for the employee to marry.
