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Characteristics of Russian Folk Tales

Folk Tales

Folk tales carry the history, knowledge, beliefs, and morals of a people for centuries before their societies develop literature. Folk tales exist in almost every society, but few have such a rich tradition of storytelling as do the people of Russia. Full of witches, talking animals, foolish yet lucky men, and wise people of all ages, Russian folk tales entertained and enlightened generations of Russians.

Folk tales from Western Europe are often called Fairy Tales because many stories, such as Cinderella, use fairies as characters. In Russia, on the other hand, there is no tradition of fairy people who occasionally appear and help humans. Instead of unreal people, characters in Russian tales are more often assisted by magical animals or objects. Russian stories are more likely to be filled with things people see every day than with fantasy creatures.

Clever Animals

Animals play an important part in many Russian stories. In many tales, they are highly intelligent and able to communicate with people. A few stories, such as The Wolf and the Goat, have animals as the sole characters. In most stories, animals are helpers or advisors to humans. For example, in Prince Ivan and the Grey Wolf, a young boy is helped on an adventure by a shape-shifting wolf. In Koschei the Deathless, Prince Ivan goes hunting, but spares three animals (the stories vary as to which three) who later reappear when he needs help. Unlike Western stories with magical, unusual, or monstrous creatures which were never seen but were believed to exist, Russian stories more often made use of things commonly seen animals with special abilities.

Uncommon Characters

There are three unseen characters who sometimes make appearances in stories. Possibly originating from the story of St. George, a few stories feature dragons. Another imaginary animal is the firebird. Originating in preChristian legends, the firebird must have fascinated Russians as much as it did the characters they told of. One of the few non-human, non-animal characters that sometimes appears is devil or evil spirit. Though not commonly encountered in daily life, the devil was known to Russians through the Russian Orthodox Church.

Amazing Objects

Talking or animate objects rarely appear in Russian folklore. An exception is the popular story of Vasilisa the Beautiful. In it, the witch Baba Yaga has an animated, talking gate and tree. Her house doesn’t seem to be intelligent, but it moves on command. More often, objects have special properties which help their users. In story The Soldier and Death, a wanderer is given a deck of cards with which he wins every game and a sack that pulls in anything he commands to go inside. In another story, a soldier receives a magic shirt from a dragon which allows him to change his appearance. In addition to his animal helpers in Koschei the Deathless, Prince Ivan is helped by a magical handkerchief which turns into a bridge, allowing him to escape from his enemy. Much as with the animal characters, familiar objects often play an important role in helping folk tale characters.

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Wondrous Places

One of the most imaginative aspects of many Russian folk tales is their locale. Some stories take place in an underground kingdom. In The Three Kingdoms, a young man is lowered into an underground land where he finds a copper, a silver, and a gold kingdom. Often, each place a character passes through is richer and more glorious than the next. When someone traveled a long way, they were often said to pass through the thrice-tenth kingdoms. That is, thee groupings of ten kingdoms. The final kingdom is, according to many tales, a place of magic, but also a place of evil. It is here that some stories say Baba Yaga and Koschei the Deathless live. The hero of The Soldier and Death traveled until he reached Hell, then carried on traveling until he reached Heaven. Unlike using common objects or animals in stories, Russian story tellers often imagined fascinating places to set their stories in. Some places were known, perhaps seen from a distance, but rarely entered by ordinary people. The most commonly occurring of these locations is the palace of the Tsar. Many folk heroes found their way into the Tsar’s presence during their adventure. It is often said that before entering the palace, the hero would make the sign of the cross and bow before the four corners of the palace.

Fascinating People

If the locations were places that common people could only dream of, many of the characters were drawn from people they knew well. One of the most common characters is the simpleton who makes good. In a few stories he is known as Ivan-who-lies-on-the-stove (the stove being the warmest place in a house). This is always a lazy, good-for-nothing who, through strength, cunning, or just luck, becomes a hero. Another popular character is the wise young girl. Often a beauty, this character uses cunning against those who try to do her harm or place her in difficult circumstances. In Vasilisa the Beautiful, a favorite of many Russians, a young girl finds herself in the house of a witch, but manages to escape owing to her quick thinking and kindness to others. Some stories center around a beleaguered husband who find some way to silence or get rid of a quarrelsome wife. Though most stories are about ordinary people who do great things, some stories tell of adventurous members of the royal family. Though these characters hold the highest positions in society, they often are characterized in the same way as ordinary people. For example, many stories tell of the adventures of a young prince. Often called Prince Ivan, these characters often start off as something of a simpleton who finds his way into adventure. Perhaps because Prince Ivan is young his character still seemed familiar to the people. The Tsar himself rarely plays anything more than a peripheral role in any folk story.

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No article on Russian folk tales would be complete without a detailed description of one of Russia’s most enduring characters, the witch Baba Yaga. There are a few other magical people in Russian folk tales, Koschei being one of the best known. But no other character finds their way into so many stories as Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga lives in the forest in a house made of bones standing up on chicken legs. Unlike western witches which were said to travel on brooms, Baba Yaga travels in a pestle by banging the mortar up and down. It is also said that she eats children. In many stories children find her house and must avoid being eaten. The place where Baba Yaga lives is often described as a place of wonders. As stated above, she lives in the magical thrice-tenth land. Her horses are said to be the fastest in the world. Koschei rides one, and Prince Ivan needed one to out run Koschei. In her home, she has a talking cat, talking horses, talking mice, and a tree and a gate which are intelligent and animated. Often the creatures in her home loath her and help her captive children to escape. In some of the stories involving children, it is a step-mother or other relative who send them to Baba Yaga to get rid of them. One can imagine parents telling their children these tales, then warning them to behave or Baba Yaga would get them.

Religious Influence

It is often said that the Russian Orthodox Church has been the greatest cultural influence on the Russian people. However, overtly Christian themes or subjects rarely find their way into folk tales. When religious symbols or characters do appear they may be mixed with folk beliefs or practices. In The Sorceress, the son of a priest is given the task of reading the Psalter over the coffin of a sorceress which lies inside a church. Knowing what she is, and old lady teaches him some protective magic. In The Vampire, a woman destroys an evil spirit by sprinkling him with holy water. In the comic tale of The Fox Confessor, a female fox tricks a cock out of a tree by claiming to want to hear his confession. The fox escapes by claiming to be a deacon and offering the fox a job in the church. Priests occasionally appear in stories, but it is often their children or grandchildren that the stories focus on. Higher ranking clergy who ordinary people would have met only rarely are seldom mentioned. Perhaps the sacred nature of the Church prevented story tellers from creating stories with religious themes. Another possibility is that the vast amount of literature that already existed chronicling the lives of the saints.

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Conclusion

Russian folk tales have elements that vary from the mundane to the fantastic. Most stories feature ordinary people who are thrust into extraordinary situations. These tales entertained young and old and helped them to understand their past and present. Many stories held hidden warnings against greed or bad behavior. Others provided encouragement to people in difficult situations. Russian folk takes have flowed like a river through the history of the Russian people, carrying along with them the heart of the people.

Sources:
Alexsandr Afanasev, Russian Fairy Tales, Translated by Norbert Guterman
Jack V. Haney, An Introduction to the Russian Folk Tale