Ethnic oral creativity on the example of fairy tales of the peoples of Siberia, the North and the Far East. Siberian fairy tales to read online Tales of the peoples of Western Siberia about animals

“God created the chipmunk with stripes, and released the hare with a split lip…

And the people argued, laughed and answered with their ironic tales:

- No, the chipmunk became striped because the grandfather bear stroked it.

- No, the hare's upper lip split in two from the fact that he laughed a lot. Remember when he scared the sheep?

The people dreamed of conquering the forces of nature and expressed their dream in wonderful tales. So, Evenki women made iron wings for the boy, and he rose on these wings to the clouds. One woman in the Khanty camp wove a wonderful towel, on which her husband swam across the sea. And in Altai, the hero Sartakpai built bridges over turbulent rivers, laid roads and even tried to make lightning illuminate the earth at night.

Many interesting epics and fairy tales were composed by the peoples of Siberia. From these works, scientists learn about the life of the people, their ancient ideas about the world, their dreams and hopes.

A. M. Gorky called fairy tales and epics of the peoples of Siberia pearls, advised to collect them and study them.

But before the October Socialist Revolution, these works were almost unknown to the Russian reader.

During the years of Soviet power, under the leadership of the Communist Party, as we have already seen, the life of the peoples of Siberia has been radically changed. Along with all the peoples of our homeland, they themselves began to govern their own socialist state - the fraternal Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. All the peoples of Siberia have their own autonomous Soviet socialist republics, autonomous regions or national districts. With the fraternal help of the great Russian people, all the nomadic peoples, having created collective farms, switched to a settled life. They replaced the smoky and cold yurt with a light and warm house. In the taiga, trading stations and hunting and fishing stations were built for hunters. There are roads everywhere. Cars came to the most remote areas. Tractors have raised centuries-old virgin soil. Factories and plants have been built in the national republics and regions. All nations have created their own written language, and illiteracy has been eliminated. Doctors, engineers, agronomists, candidates and doctors of science appeared. Poets, writers and playwrights grew up. Their voices are heard throughout the country. Their books have been translated into Russian and published in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and other cities. The peoples of Siberia show the best works of art to the working people of our homeland from the stage of Moscow theaters.

On the advice of Alexei Maksimovich Gorky, the writers lovingly and carefully collected "pearls of folk art." From folk singers and storytellers, they recorded oral works of art - epics, songs, fairy tales.

Many wonderful Russian fairy tales have been recorded in Siberia. They were published in Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. Therefore, we print here only the tales of those peoples whose work is little known. It will be interesting for the Russian reader to get acquainted with what his talented neighbors have created over the centuries.

The stories in our book are different. Some of them are published in the form in which they were recorded by Russian writers from storytellers, others are printed in literary processing, others belong to the pen of writers, but they were created according to folk motives. The basis for all the fairy tales included in this collection is the same - folk art, folk wisdom.

There are fairy tales composed under the Soviet regime. They are the joy and happiness of the people. There are also old tales about the fight against beys and khans. Young, brave, strong people, boys and girls, enter this struggle. They fight for joy and freedom for all working people. Sometimes they win thanks to their heroic strength, sometimes thanks to their intelligence and resourcefulness. Truth and victory are always on their side. It was the expression of a dream of a free life. The people realized their beautiful dream.

There are old tales about conquering the forces of nature. In the distant past, this was a bold dream. In our time, the dream has come true: roads have been built, iron birds carry a person over long distances with the speed of sound, lightning serves people, our astronauts in miracle ships master the space that separates the Earth from its neighbor Moon, numerous "seas" created by Soviet people, changed the geography of the country.

Just yesterday, bold dreams were called fabulous. Today the fairy tale has been turned into a reality by the labor of the people.

Afanasy Koptelov.

ALTAI TALES

SARTAKPAY

In Altai, at the mouth of the Ini River, the hero Sartakpai lived. His scythe is all the way to the ground. Eyebrows are like a thick bush. The muscles are knotty, like a growth on a birch - at least cut cups of them.

Not a single bird has yet flown past Sartakpai's head: he fired without a miss.

The hoofed animals running far away were always accurately beaten by Sartakpai. He aimed deftly at the clawed beasts.

His archemaks were not empty (archemaks are leather bags thrown over the saddle). Fat game was always strapped to the saddle. The son of Aduchi-Mergen, having heard the pace of the pacer from afar, ran out to meet his father in order to unsaddle his horse. Daughter-in-law Oimok prepared eighteen game dishes and ten milk drinks for the old man.

But the famous hero Sartakpai was not happy, he was not cheerful. Day and night he heard the cry of the Altai rivers squeezed by stones. Rushing from stone to stone, they were torn to shreds. Crushed into streams, bumping into mountains. Sartakpai was tired of seeing the tears of the Altai rivers, tired of listening to their unceasing groans. And he decided to give way to the Altai waters to the Arctic Ocean. Sartakpai called his son:

“You, child, go south, and I will go east.”

Aduchi-son went to Mount Belukha, climbed to where the eternal snow lies, began to look for ways for the Katun River.

The hero Sartakpai himself went east, to the fat lake Yulu-Kol. With the index finger of his right hand, Sartakpai touched the bank of the Yulu-Kol - and the Chulyshman River flowed after his finger. All passing streams and rivers, all ringing springs and underground waters rushed into this river with a cheerful song.

But through the joyful ringing, Sartakpai heard weeping in the mountains of Kosh-Agach. He stretched out his left hand and with his index finger drew a furrow through the mountains for the Bashkaus River. And when the waters laughed, running away from Kosh-Agach, the old man Sartakpai laughed along with them.

- It turns out that I can also work with my left hand. However, it is not good to do such a thing with the left hand.

And Sartakpai turned the river Bashkaus to the hills of Kokbash and then poured it into Chulyshman and led all the waters with one right hand down to the slopes of Artybash. Here Sartakpai stopped.

Tales of the peoples of the North

DEAR FRIEND!

The book you are holding in your hands is a collection of fairy tales. These are fairy tales of different peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East, living on a vast territory from the western to eastern borders of the Soviet Union, from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka.

Downtrodden and backward in the past, in our country the peoples of the North are surrounded by attention and care. They created a unique culture, including rich oral folk art - folklore. Fairy tales are the most common genre of folklore.

A fairy tale brightened up the difficult existence of people, served as a favorite entertainment and recreation: they usually told fairy tales at their leisure, after a hard day. But the fairy tale also played an important educational role. In the recent past, fairy tales among the peoples of the North were not only entertainment, but also a kind of school of life. Young hunters and reindeer herders listened and tried to imitate the heroes who were glorified in fairy tales.

Fairy tales paint vivid pictures of the life and life of hunters, fishermen and reindeer herders, introduce them to their ideas and customs.

The heroes of many fairy tales are the poor. They are fearless, dexterous, quick-witted and resourceful (the Nenets tale "The Master and the Worker", the Udege - "Gadazami", the Even - "The Resourceful Shooter" and others).

Fairy tales feature various elements of magic, prophetic forces (as, for example, in the Ket fairy tales “The Small Bird” and “Alba and Khosyadam” or in the Chukchi fairy tale “The Almighty Katgyrgyn”), spirits are the masters of the elements (underwater kingdom, underground and heavenly worlds). , spirits of water, earth, forest, fire, etc.) (for example, in the Selkup fairy tale "The Mistress of the Fire", Oroch - "The Best Hunter on the Coast", Nivkh - "White Seal"), death and revival (for example, in Evenk fairy tale "How kites were defeated").

An important place in the folklore of the peoples of the North is occupied by fairy tales about animals. They explain the habits and appearance of animals in their own way (the Mansi tale “Why does the hare have long ears”, the Nanai - “How the bear and the chipmunk stopped being friends”, the Eskimo - “How the raven and the owl painted each other”), they talk about the mutual assistance of man and beast (the Mansi tale "The Proud Deer", the Dolgan - "The Old Fisherman and the Raven", the Nivkh - "The Hunter and the Tiger").

The main idea of ​​the tale is simple: there should be no place on earth for suffering and poverty, evil and deception should be punished.

Dear friend! Read this book thoughtfully, slowly. When you read a fairy tale, think about what it is about, what it teaches. As the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: “A fairy tale is a fairy tale, but you draw a conclusion from a fairy tale.” So you think about what conclusion can be drawn from each fairy tale you read.

In the book you will meet words that you may not know. They are marked with an asterisk and you will find an explanation of them at the end of the book. These are mainly the names of household items, household utensils, clothing of various peoples of the North.

Read fairy tales slowly, as if you were telling them to your friends or younger brothers and sisters.

Look carefully at the illustrations for fairy tales. Think about what episode of the fairy tale they belong to, what kind of drawing you would draw for this or that fairy tale. Pay attention to the ornament, clothing, household items of different peoples.

We wish you success!

NENETS TALE

There lived a poor woman. And she had four children. The children did not obey their mother. They ran and played in the snow from morning to evening, but did not help their mothers. They will return to the chum, they will drag whole snowdrifts on pims, and take the mother away. The clothes will be wetted, and the mother will be sushi. It was difficult for the mother. From such a life, from hard work, she fell ill. Lies in the plague, calls the children, asks:

Kids, give me water. My throat was dry. Bring some water.

Not once, not twice, the mother asked - the children do not go for water. Senior says:

I am without pims. Another says:

I am without a hat. The third one says:

I am without clothes.

And the fourth one doesn't answer at all. Their mother asks:

The river is close to us, and you can go without clothes. It dried up in my mouth. I am thirsty!

And the children ran out of the tent, played for a long time, and did not look at their mother. Finally, the older one wanted to eat - he looked into the chum. He looks: the mother is standing in the middle of the plague and putting on a malitsa. Suddenly the little girl was covered with feathers. The mother takes a board, on which the skins are scraped, and that board becomes a bird's tail. The thimble became an iron beak. Wings grew instead of arms.

The mother turned into a cuckoo bird and flew out of the tent.

Then the elder brother shouted:

Brothers, look, look: our mother is flying away like a bird!

The children ran after their mother, shouting to her:

Mom, mom, we brought you some water! And she replies:

Coo-coo, coo-coo! Late, late! Now the lake waters are in front of me. I fly to free waters!

The children run after their mother, they call her, they hold out a bucket of water.

The youngest son cries:

Mom mom! Come back home! For some water, drink!

The mother answers from afar:

Coo-coo, coo-coo! Too late, son! I will not return!

So the children ran after their mother for many days and nights - over stones, over swamps, over bumps. They cut their legs into blood. Where they run, there will be a red trace.

The cuckoo mother abandoned her children forever. And since then, the cuckoo has not built a nest for itself, has not raised its own children. And from that time on, red moss spreads along the tundra.

TALA THE BEAR AND THE GREAT WIZARD

SAMI TALE

Tala-bear got into the habit around the camp to stagger at night. He walks quietly, does not give a voice, lurks behind the stones - he waits: whether the stupid deer will fight off the herd, whether the puppy jumps out of the camp, whether the child.

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Tales of the peoples of Siberia

Altai fairy tales

scary guest

There lived a badger. He slept during the day and went hunting at night. One night a badger was hunting. He had not had time to get enough, and the edge of the sky had already brightened.

Before the sun, a badger hurries to get into its hole. Without showing himself to people, hiding from the dogs, he walked where the shadow is thicker, where the earth is blacker.

The badger approached his dwelling.

“Hrr… Brr…” he suddenly heard an incomprehensible noise.

"What's happened?"

Sleep jumped out of the badger, the hair stood on end, the heart almost broke the ribs with a knock.

"I've never heard such a noise..."

“Hrrr… Firrlit-fu… Brrr…

“Hurry, I’ll go back to the forest, I’ll call clawed animals like me: I alone don’t agree to die here for everyone.”

And the badger went to call all the clawed animals living in Altai for help.

- Oh, I have a terrible guest sitting in my hole! Help! Save!

Animals came running, their ears to the ground - in fact, the earth trembles from the noise:

“Brrrrrk, hrr, fuu…

All the animals' hair stood on end.

- Well, badger, this is your house, you are the first and climb.

The badger looked around - around the ferocious animals are standing, urging, hurrying:

– Go, go!

And they themselves tucked their tails in fear.

The badger's house had eight entrances and eight exits. "What to do? the badger thinks. - How to be? Which entrance to your house to penetrate?

- What are you standing for? snorted the wolverine and raised its terrible paw.

Slowly, reluctantly, the badger wandered to the very main entrance.

– Hrrrr! - flew out of there.

The badger jumped back, hobbled to another entrance-exit.

Of all eight exits, it rumbles.

The badger began to dig for the ninth move. It's a shame to destroy your home, but you can't refuse it - the most ferocious animals from all over Altai have gathered.

- Hurry, hurry! - are ordered.

It's a shame to destroy your home, but you can't disobey.

Sighing bitterly, the badger scratched the ground with its clawed front paws. Finally, a little alive with fear, he made his way to his high bedroom.

"Hrrrr, brrr, frrr...

Lounging on a soft bed, it was a white hare snoring loudly.

The animals could not stand on their feet with laughter, they rolled on the ground.

- Hare! That's the hare! The badger was scared of the hare!

– Ha-ha-ha! Ho-ho-ho!

“From shame, where can you hide now, badger?” What an army he gathered against the hare!

– Ha-ha-ha! Ho-ho!

And the badger does not raise his head, he scolds himself:

“Why, when you heard a noise in your house, didn’t you look there yourself? Why did he go to the whole Altai to shout?

And know the hare sleeps and snores.

The badger got angry, but how he shoves the hare:

- Go away! Who let you sleep here?

The hare woke up - his eyes almost popped out! - and the wolf, and the fox, lynx, wolverine, wild cat, even sable are here!

“Well,” the hare thinks, “come what may!”

And suddenly - jump badger in the forehead. And from the forehead, as from a hill, - again lope! - and into the bushes.

The badger's forehead turned white from the white hare belly.

From the hind hare paws there were white marks on the cheeks.

The animals laughed even louder.

- Oh, barsu-u-uk, how beautiful you have become! Ho ha ha!

- Come to the water, look at yourself!

The badger hobbled to the forest lake, saw his reflection in the water and cried:

"I'm going to complain to the bear."

Came and says:

- I bow to you to the ground, grandfather bear. I ask you for protection. I myself was not at home that night, I did not invite guests. Hearing loud snoring, he was frightened ... How many animals he disturbed, he destroyed his house. Now look, from the hare's white belly, from the hare's paws - and my cheeks turned white. And the culprit fled without looking back. Judge this matter.

Are you still complaining? Your head used to be black as the earth, and now even people will envy the whiteness of your forehead and cheeks. It's a shame that I didn't stand in that place, that the hare didn't whiten my face. That's a pity! Yes, it's a pity...

And with a bitter sigh, the bear left.

And the badger still lives with a white stripe on his forehead and on his cheeks. It is said that he is accustomed to these marks and is already boasting:

- That's how the hare tried for me! We are now friends forever and ever.

Well, what does the hare say? Nobody heard this.

Resentment deer

A red fox came running from the green hills into the black forest. She has not yet dug a hole for herself in the forest, but she already knows the news of the forest: the bear has become old.

- Ai-yay-yay, woe-trouble! Our elder, the brown bear, is dying. His golden coat has faded, his sharp teeth have become dull, and there is no former strength in his paws. Hurry, hurry! Let's get together, think about who in our black forest is smarter than everyone, more beautiful than everyone, to whom we will sing praise, whom we will put in a bear's place.

Where nine rivers joined, at the foot of nine mountains, a shaggy cedar stands above a swift spring. Beneath this cedar, beasts from the black forest gathered. They show their fur coats to each other, they boast of their intelligence, strength, and beauty.

The old bear also came here:

- What are you making noise? What are you arguing about?

The animals fell silent, and the fox raised its sharp muzzle and squealed:

- Oh, venerable bear, be ageless, strong, live a hundred years! We are arguing and arguing here, but we can’t solve things without you: who is more worthy, who is more beautiful than everyone?

“Everyone is good in their own way,” the old man grumbled.

“Oh, wise one, we still want to hear your word. Whom you point to, the animals will sing praise to him, they will put him in a place of honor.

And she herself spread her red tail, prettier her golden hair with her tongue, smoothes her white breast.

And then the animals suddenly saw a deer running in the distance. With his feet he trampled the top of the mountain, branched horns led a trail along the bottom of the sky.

The fox has not had time to close its mouth yet, but the maral is already here.

His smooth coat did not sweat from his fast run, his elastic ribs did not come in more often, warm blood did not boil in his tight veins. The heart beats calmly, evenly, big eyes quietly shine. He scratches his brown lip with a pink tongue, his teeth turn white, he laughs.

The old bear slowly got up, sneezed, extended his paw to the deer:

- Here's who is the most beautiful.

The fox bites its own tail out of envy.

- Do you live well, noble deer? she sang. - It can be seen that your slender legs have weakened, there was not enough breathing in your broad chest. Insignificant squirrels are ahead of you, the bow-legged wolverine has long been here, even the sluggish badger managed to arrive before you.

Maral lowered his branchy-horned head low, his shaggy chest swayed and his voice sounded like a reed pipe.

- Dear fox! Squirrels live on this cedar, a wolverine slept on a nearby tree, a badger has a hole here, behind a hill. And I passed nine valleys, swam nine rivers, crossed nine mountains ...

The deer raised his head - his ears are like flower petals. The horns, dressed in a thin pile, are transparent, as if poured with May honey.

- And you, fox, what are you fussing about? - angry bear. “Did you think of becoming an elder yourself?”

“I beg you, noble deer, take a place of honor.

And the fox is here again.

– Oh-ha-ha! They want to choose a brown deer as an elder, they are going to sing praises to him. Ha ha, ha ha! Now he is handsome, but look at him in winter - his head is hornless, hornless, his neck is thin, his hair hangs in tatters, he walks crouched, he staggers from the wind.

Maral found no words in response. I looked at the animals - the animals are silent.

Even the old bear did not remember that every spring new horns grow at the deer, every year a new branch is added to the deer's horns, and from year to year the horns are branchier, and the deer the older, the more beautiful.

From bitter resentment, burning tears fell from the deer's eyes, burned his cheeks to the bones, and the bones sagged.

Look, and now deep depressions are darkening under his eyes. But the eyes from this became even more beautiful, and not only animals, but also people sing glory to the beauty of the deer.

Greedy Capercaillie

The birch drops its golden foliage, the larch loses its golden needles. Evil winds blow, cold rains fall. Summer is gone, autumn has come. It's time for the birds to fly to warmer climes.

For seven days at the edge of the forest they gathered in flocks, for seven days they called to each other:

- Is everyone here? Is everything here? All or not?

Only the capercaillie is not heard, the capercaillie is not seen.

The golden eagle struck with his humpbacked beak on a dry branch, knocked again and ordered the young cuckoo to call the capercaillie.

Whistling its wings, the cuckoo flew into the thicket of the forest.

Capercaillie, it turns out, is here - sitting on a cedar, shelling nuts from cones.

“Dear capercaillie,” said the cuckoo, “the birds have gathered in warm lands. They have been waiting for you for seven days.

- Well, well, get excited! screeched the capercaillie. - It is not in a hurry to fly to warm lands. How many nuts and berries are here in the forest ... Is it really possible to leave all this to mice and squirrels?

The cuckoo is back:

- Capercaillie cracks nuts, fly south, he says, not in a hurry.

The golden eagle sent a nimble wagtail.

She flew to the cedar, ran around the trunk ten times:

“Hurry up, capercaillie, hurry up!”

- You are very fast. Before a long journey, you need to refresh yourself a little.

The wagtail shook its tail, ran and ran around the cedar, and flew away.

- The great golden eagle, the capercaillie wants to eat before a long journey.

The golden eagle got angry and ordered all the birds to immediately fly to warm lands.

And the capercaillie picked nuts from the cones for another seven days, sighed on the eighth, cleaned its beak on feathers:

“Oh, I don’t have the strength to eat all this. It’s a pity to leave such good, but you have to ...

And, flapping its wings heavily, flew to the edge of the forest. But the birds are no longer visible here, their voices are not heard.

"What's happened?" - the capercaillie does not believe his eyes: the clearing is empty, even the evergreen cedars are bare. These are birds, when they were waiting for the capercaillie, they pecked all the needles.

Wept bitterly, the capercaillie creaked:

- Without me, without me, the birds flew away to warm lands ... How will I winter here now?

The capercaillie's dark eyebrows reddened from tears.

From that time to the present day, the children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the capercaillie, remembering this story, weep bitterly. And all capercaillie have red eyebrows like mountain ash.

Literary processing by A. Garf and P. Kuchiak.

Ermine and hare

On a winter night, a stoat went hunting. He dived under the snow, emerged, stood up on his hind legs, stretched out his neck, listened, turned his head, sniffed ... And suddenly, as if a mountain fell on his back. And the ermine, even though small in stature, but brave - turned around, grabbed his teeth - do not interfere with the hunt!

- A-a-a-a! - there was a cry, crying, groaning, and a hare fell from the ermine's back.

The hind leg of the hare is bitten to the bone, black blood flows onto the white snow. The hare is crying, sobbing:

– Oh-oh-oh-oh! I ran from an owl, I wanted to save my life, I accidentally fell on your back, and you bite me-and-and-silt ...

- Oh, hare, I'm sorry, I also accidentally ...

“I don’t want to listen, ah-ah-ah!! I will never forgive, ah-ah-ah!! I'm going to complain to the bear! Oh-oh-oh-oh!

The sun had not yet risen, and the ermine had already received a strict decree from the bear:

“Come to my village for court right now!

The elder of the local forest Dark brown bear.

The round heart of an ermine thumped, thin bones bend with fear ... Oh, and I would be glad the ermine did not go, but you can’t disobey the bear ...

Timidly, timidly, he entered the bear's dwelling.

The bear sits in a place of honor, smokes a pipe, and next to the owner, on the right side, is a hare. He leans on a crutch, put his lame leg forward.

The bear raised his fluffy eyelashes and looks at the ermine with red-yellow eyes:

- How dare you bite?

Ermine, as if dumb, only moves his lips, his heart does not fit in his chest.

“I… I… hunted,” he whispers in a barely audible voice.

- Whom did you hunt?

- I wanted to catch a mouse, to lie in wait for a night bird.

Yes, mice and birds are your food. Why did you bite the rabbit?

- The hare offended me first, he fell on my back ...

The bear turned to the hare, and how it barks:

- Why did you jump on the back of an ermine?

The hare trembled, tears from his eyes gushed like a waterfall:

- I bow to you to the ground, great bear. The ermine has a white back in winter ... I didn’t recognize him from the back ... I was mistaken ...

“I was also mistaken,” the ermine shouted, “the hare is also all white in winter!”

The wise bear was silent for a long time. A large bonfire crackled hotly in front of him, over the fire on iron chains hung a golden cauldron with seven bronze ears. The bear never cleaned this beloved cauldron, he was afraid that happiness would go away with the dirt, and the golden cauldron was always covered with a hundred layers of soot, like velvet.

The bear stretched out his right paw to the cauldron, touched it a little, and the paw was already black-black. With this paw, the bear of the hare slightly patted the ears, and the tips of the ears of the hare turned black!

- Well, now you, ermine, always recognize the hare by the ears.

Ermine, rejoicing that things had turned out so happily, rushed to run, but the bear caught him by the tail. The ermine's tail has turned black!

“Now, hare, you always recognize an ermine by its tail.

They say that from that time to the present day, the ermine and the hare do not complain about each other.

Literary processing by A. Garf and P. Kuchiak.

smart chipmunk

In winter, the brown bear slept soundly in his lair. When the titmouse sang a spring song, he woke up, came out of the dark hole, shaded his eyes from the sun with his paw, sneezed, looked at himself:

“Uh-uh, ma-ash, how I lost weight… I didn’t eat anything all the long winter…”

His favorite food is pine nuts. His favorite cedar - here it is, thick, six girths, standing right next to the lair. The branches are frequent, the needles are silk, even drops do not drip through it.

The bear got up on its hind legs, grabbed the branches of a cedar with its front paws, did not see a single cone, and its paws dropped.

- Hey ma-ash! - the bear grumbled. - What happened with me? The lower back hurts, the paws do not obey ... I have grown old, weakened ... How will I feed myself now?

He moved through a dense forest, crossed a turbulent river with a shallow ford, walked in stone placers, stepped on melted snow, how many animal tracks he smelled, but he did not overtake a single animal: there is still no strength to hunt ...

Already at the edge of the forest he went out, he didn’t find any food, where to go next, he doesn’t know himself.

- Blink-bang! Syk-syk! - this, frightened by the bear, cried the chipmunk.

The bear wanted to take a step, raised its paw, and just froze: “Uh, ma-a-a-sh, how did I forget about the chipmunk? Chipmunk is a diligent owner. He stocks up on nuts for three years ahead. Hold on, hold on, hold on! the bear said to himself. “We need to find his hole, he has bins and in the spring they are not empty.”

And he went to sniff the ground, and found it! Here it is, chipmunk's dwelling. But how can you stick such a big paw into such a narrow passage?

It is difficult for an old man to scratch the frozen earth with his claws, and then there is also a root, like iron, hard. Pull paws? No, you won't. Gnawing teeth? No, you won't crack it. The bear swung - rraz! - the fir fell, the root itself turned out of the ground.

Hearing this noise, the chipmunk lost his mind. My heart is beating like it wants to come out of my mouth. Chipmunk covered his mouth with his paws, and tears welled up from his eyes: “When I saw such a big bear, why did I shout? Why do I want to scream even louder now? My mouth, shut up!"

A chipmunk quickly dug a hole at the bottom of the hole, climbed in and does not even dare to breathe.

And the bear stuck his huge paw into the chipmunk pantry, grabbed a handful of nuts:

- Hey ma-ash! I said: the chipmunk is a good owner. – The bear even shed a tear. Apparently it's not my time to die. I'll live in the white world...

Again he stuck his paw into the pantry - there are a lot of nuts there!

He ate, stroked his stomach:

“My emaciated stomach is filled, my hair shines like gold, strength plays in my paws. I’ll chew a little more, I’ll get stronger.”

And the bear is so full that he can't even stand.

- Phew, wow ... - sat on the ground, thought:

“We should thank this thrifty chipmunk, but where is he?”

- Hey, master, respond! the bear barked.

And the chipmunk clamps its mouth even tighter.

“It will be a shame for me to live in the forest,” the bear thinks, “if, having eaten other people’s stocks, I don’t even wish good health to the owner.”

I looked into the mink and saw the chipmunks' tail. The old man rejoiced.

- The owner, it turns out, is at home! Thank you, sir, thank you, sir. May your bins never stand empty, may your stomach never growl from hunger ... Let me hug you, press you to my heart.

Chipmunk has not learned to speak like a bear, he does not understand bear words. When he saw a large clawed paw above him, he shouted in his own way, in a chipmunk: “Kick-kick, syk-syk!” - and jumped out of the mink.

But the bear picked him up, pressed him to his heart, and continued his bearish speech:

- Thank you, Chipmunk uncle: you fed me when I was hungry, you gave me rest when I was tired. Be unweakened, be strong, live under the fruitful rich cedar, let your children and grandchildren not know misfortune-grief ...

He wants to free himself, he wants to run, he scratches the bear's hard paw with his claws with all his might, and the bear's paw does not even itch. Without stopping for a minute, he sings praises to the chipmunk:

- I thank you loudly, thank you to heaven, I say thank you a thousand times! Take a look at me with just one eye...

And the chipmunk doesn't make a sound.

- Hey, m-mash! Where, in what forest did you grow up? On what stump were they brought up? They say thank you, but he does not answer anything, he does not raise his eyes to the person thanking him. Smile a little.

The bear fell silent, bowed its head, waiting for an answer.

And the chipmunk thinks:

"I've finished growling, now he's going to eat me."

Rushed from the last strength and jumped out!

From five black bear claws, five black stripes remained on the chipmunk's back. Since then, the chipmunk wears an elegant fur coat. This is a bear gift.

Literary processing A. Garf.

One hundred minds

As it became warm, the crane flew to Altai, landed on its native swamp and went to dance! He moves his legs, flaps his wings.

A hungry fox ran past, she envied the crane's joy, squealed:

- I look and I can’t believe my eyes - the crane is dancing! But he, the poor fellow, has only two legs.

The crane looked at the fox - even its beak gaped: one, two, three, four paws!

- Oh, - the fox shouted, - oh, there is not a single tooth in such a long beak ...

The crane hung its head.

The fox laughed even louder.

Where did you hide your ears? You don't have ears! That's the head! Well, what's on your mind?

“I found a way here from across the sea,” the crane almost cries, “there is, so I have at least some kind of mind in my head.”

- Oh, and you are unhappy, crane - two legs and one mind. Look at me - four legs, two ears, a mouth full of teeth, a hundred minds and a wonderful tail.

In grief, the crane stretched out its long neck and saw a man in the distance with a bow and a hunting bag.

- Fox, venerable fox, you have four legs, two ears and a wonderful tail; your mouth is full of teeth, a hundred minds - the hunter is coming!!! How can we be saved?!

- My hundred minds will always give a hundred tips.

She said and disappeared into the badger hole.

The crane thought: "She has a hundred minds," - and there, after her!

A hunter has never seen such a thing, a crane chasing a fox.

He put his hand into the hole, grabbed the crane by its long legs and pulled it out into the light.

The wings of the crane blossomed, hung, eyes like glass, even the heart does not beat.

“Suffocated, right, in a hole,” thought the hunter and threw the crane onto a hummock.

Again he put his hand into the hole, pulled the fox out.

The fox shook its ears, bit with its teeth, scratched with all four paws, but still got into the hunting bag.

“Perhaps I’ll take the crane too,” the hunter decided.

He turned around, looked at the hummock, but there was no crane! It flies high in the sky, and you can't reach it with an arrow.

Thus perished the fox, which had a hundred minds, a mouth full of teeth, four legs, two ears, and a wonderful tail.

And the crane, with one of its minds, fluttered and then realized how to escape.

Literary processing by A. Garf and P. Kuchiak.

Children of the Beast Maana

In ancient times, the miracle beast Maana lived in Altai. She was like a century-old cedar, big. She walked through the mountains, descended into the valleys - nowhere did she find an animal similar to herself. And she's already starting to get old.

“I will die,” Maany thought, “and no one in Altai will remember me, everyone will forget that the big Maany lived on earth. If only someone was born to me ... "

You never know, how much time has passed, and Maana's son was born - a kitten.

- Grow, grow, baby! sang Maany. - Grow, grow.

And the kitten answered:

- Mrr-mrr, grow, grow...

And although he learned to sing and purr, he grew up a little, and remained small.

The second was a badger. This one grew larger than a cat, but he was far from the big Maana, and his character was not like his mother. Always gloomy, he did not leave the house during the day, he walked heavily through the forest at night, did not raise his head, did not see the stars, did not see the moon.

The third - wolverine - loved to hang on tree branches. Once she fell off a branch, fell on her paws, and her paws twisted.

The fourth, a lynx, was pretty, but so shy that she even raised her sensitive ears to her mother. And on the tips of her ears, elegant tassels stuck out.

The irbis-leopard was born the fifth. This one was bright-eyed and brave. He hunted high in the mountains, easily, like a bird, flew from stone to stone.

The sixth - the tiger - swam no worse than Maana, ran faster than the leopard and lynx. Lying in wait for prey, he was unhurried - he could lie crouching from sunrise to sunset.

The seventh - a lion - looked proudly, walked, raising his big head high. Trees trembled and rocks crumbled from his voice.

He was the most powerful of the seven, but this son of Maana-mother playfully brought down on the grass, amusedly, threw it up to the clouds.

“None of them are like me,” the big Maany marveled, “and yet they are my children. When I die, there will be someone to cry about me, while I'm alive - there is someone to pity me.

Looking affectionately at all seven, Maany said:

- I want to eat.

The eldest son - a cat, purring a song, rubbed his head on his mother's legs and ran to his prey with small steps. He disappeared for three days. On the fourth he brought a small bird in his teeth.

- This is not enough for me even for one sip, - Maany smiled, - you yourself, child, refresh yourself a little.

The cat played with the bird for three more days, only on the fourth he remembered food.

“Listen, son,” Maany said, “with your habits, it will be difficult for you to live in a wild forest. Go to the person.

As soon as Maany fell silent, the cat is no longer visible. He fled forever from the wild forest.

“I'm hungry,” Maany said to the badger.

He did not talk much, did not run far. He pulled out a snake from under a stone and brought it to his mother.

Maana was angry:

- Get away from me! For bringing a snake, feed yourself on worms and snakes.

Grunting, digging the ground with its nose, the badger, without waiting for the morning, ran into the depths of the black forest. There, on the hillside, he dug a spacious hole with eight entrances and exits, fluffed up a high bed of dry leaves and began to live in his big house, not inviting anyone to himself, not visiting anyone himself.

“I'm hungry,” Maany said to the wolverine.

For seven days a bow-legged wolverine wandered through the forest, on the eighth day she brought to her mother the bones of that deer, whose meat she herself had eaten.

“Your wolverine, waiting for treats - you will die of hunger,” Maany said. “For the fact that you disappeared for seven days, let your descendants hunt down prey for seven days, let them never eat their fill, let them eat everything that they have to starve ...

Wolverine wrapped her crooked paws around the trunk of a cedar, and since then Maana has never seen her.

The fourth went hunting lynx. She brought her mother a freshly harvested roe deer.

“May your hunting always be just as successful,” Maany rejoiced. Your eyes are keen, your ears are sensitive. You hear the crunch of a dry branch at a distance of a day's journey. It will be good for you to live in the impenetrable thicket of the forest. There, in the hollows of old trees, you will raise your children.

And the lynx, silently stepping, ran away that same night into the thicket of the old forest.

Now Maany looked at the snow leopard. I didn’t even have time to say a word, but the leopard had already jumped onto a peaked rock with one jump, knocked down a mountain teke-goat with one blow of its paw.

Throwing it over his shoulder onto his back, the leopard caught a fast hare on the way back. With two gifts, he softly jumped down to the dwelling of old Maana.

- You, snow leopard son, always live on high rocks, on inaccessible stones. Live where the mountain teke-goats and free argali go 1
Argali is a wild mountain sheep (Asian).

The leopard climbed the rocks, ran into the mountains, settled between the stones.

Where the tiger went, Maana did not know. He brought her prey, which she did not ask for. He laid the dead hunter at her feet.

She wept, wailed big Maany:

“Oh, son, how cruel is your heart, how uncalculative is your mind. You were the first to start enmity with a man, your skin is painted with stripes of his blood forever. Go to live where these stripes will be hardly noticeable - in frequent reeds, in reeds, in tall grass. Hunt where there are no people or livestock. In a good year, eat wild boars and deer; in a bad year, eat frogs, but don't touch the man! If a person notices you, he will not stop until he overtakes you.

With a loud plaintive cry, the striped tiger went into the reeds.

Now the seventh son, the lion, went to prey. He did not want to hunt in the forest, he went down to the valley and dragged the dead rider and the dead horse from there.

Maana-mother almost lost her mind:

- Oh oh! she moaned, scratching her head. - Oh, I feel sorry for myself, why did I give birth to seven children! You, the seventh, are the most ferocious! Don't you dare live in my Altai! Go where there is no winter cold, where they do not know the fierce autumn wind. Maybe the hot sun will soften your hard heart.

So the big Maany, who once lived in Altai, sent away all seven children from herself.

And although she remained lonely in her old age, and although, they say, dying, she did not want to call any of her children, nevertheless her memory is alive - the children of the beast Maana settled all over the earth.

Let's sing a song about Maana-mother, tell a fairy tale about her to all people.

Literary processing by A. Garf and P. Kuchiak.

What does "Russian Siberian fairy tale" mean? Is this a special fairy tale, different from those that existed in the European part of Russia or in the Russian North? Of course not. Any fairy tale has its roots in deep antiquity, in a pre-class society, when nations and nationalities had not yet formed. This is one of the reasons why many fairy tales are international.

“To some extent, a fairy tale is a symbol of the unity of peoples. Peoples understand each other in their fairy tales,” wrote V.Ya. Propp. The tale is structurally incredibly stable, it is anonymous, it has no authors. This is a collective product. Folklore has recorded the names of unique storytellers, but not authors.

A fairy tale, like other folklore genres - songs, riddles, proverbs, traditions, legends, epics - came to Siberia along with pioneers and settlers from beyond the Urals. “Going to a new fatherland, the settlers took with them, as the treasured heritage of their ancestors, beliefs, fairy tales and songs about the epics of the past,” wrote one of the first collectors and researchers of Siberian folklore S.I. Gulyaev. He believed that "beliefs, fairy tales and songs" are common to the entire Russian people "over the entire immeasurable space of the Russian land", "but in Siberia there are almost more of them than in all other places."

These lines refer to 1839, but such a view was not characteristic of many researchers, ethnographers, writers of fiction - researchers who wrote about Siberia. The view on the tradition of oral poetry in Siberia was, rather, directly opposite until the end of the 19th century.

The specificity of the Siberian fairy tale

First of all, it must be said that a fairy tale, especially a fairy tale, is very difficult to undergo any significant changes. You can read dozens of fairy tales recorded in Siberia, but you can never determine the place or time of their recording.

Nevertheless, the Russian Siberian fairy tale has certain specific features. These features are determined by the specifics of Siberian life, the economic life of the past. The fairy tale reflects the worldview of its bearers. The very preservation of the fairy-tale tradition in Siberia, especially in the taiga village, is explained by the presence here of a relatively archaic way of life in the recent past. The lack of roads, the almost complete isolation of many settlements from the outside world, hunting life, artel work, lack of education, secular book tradition, remoteness from cultural centers - all this contributed to the preservation of traditional folklore in Siberia.

Siberia since the end of the 16th century. became a place of exile, this also left its mark on the fairy-tale tradition. Many storytellers were exiles, settlers or vagabonds who paid with a fairy tale for lodging and refreshments. Hence, by the way, one very striking feature of the Siberian fairy tale is the complexity of the composition, the multiplot. The tramp, who wanted to stay longer with his hosts, had to try to captivate them with a long tale that would not end before dinner, would not end in one evening, or even in two, three or more. So did the storytellers invited to work in the artel specifically for the entertainment of the artel workers. They often combined several plots in one narrative so that the fairy tale was told all night or several evenings in a row. Narrators were especially respected by artel workers, they were specially allocated a part of the booty or proceeds.

Details of local life penetrate the Siberian fairy tale. Her hero, often a hunter, ends up not in a fairy forest, but in the taiga. He comes not to a hut on chicken legs, but to a hunting lodge. In the Siberian fairy tale there are names of Siberian rivers, villages, this or that locality, the motif of vagrancy, wandering is typical. In general, the Siberian fairy tale is part of the all-Russian fairy tale wealth and belongs to the Eastern Slavic fairy tale tradition.

An analysis of some plots of a fairy tale will help to better understand on what basis and why exactly such plots arose in the fairy tale tradition. At the same time, it must be remembered that the fairy tale is included in the system of folklore genres; in isolation, it does not exist by itself. The genres of folklore are interconnected by many sometimes subtle connections, and it is an important task for a researcher to discover and show them. I have taken one of the aspects of folklore - secret speech and fairy tales associated with it.

Most of the fairy tale plots, especially the fairy tale, which tells about the "far away kingdom, the far away state" and various miracles, are incomprehensible to the reader. Why do these and not other heroes, wonderful helpers, act in a fairy tale, and why does everything happen in this way and not otherwise? Sometimes even the dialogues of the characters seem too exotic, far-fetched. For example, in the tale "The Rich and the Poor" it is not clear why the master needs to call the cat - "clarity", the fire - "redness", the tower - "height", and the water - "grace":

A beggar came to a rich man to hire himself. The rich man agreed to take him on the condition that he guess the riddles given to him. Shows the rich beggar to the cat and asks:
- What's this? - Cat. No, it's clarity.
Shows the rich to the fire and says:
- And what's that? - Fire. No, it's red.
Indulges in the attic:
- And what's that? - Tower. No, height.
Indicates water:
- And what's that? - Water. Thanks, you didn't guess.
The beggar went out of the yard, and the cat followed him. The beggar took it and set fire to her tail. The cat ran back, jumped into the attic, and the house was busy. The people fled, and the beggar returned, and he said to the rich:
- Your clarity dragged the redness to the heights, grace will not help - you will not own the house.

Such tales need to be specially investigated, looking for those representations in the real life of the past with which the tale is closely connected. The vast majority of fairy-tale motifs find their explanation in the life and ideas about the world of a person of past eras.

The tale "The rich and the poor" has its own explanation. There is no doubt that it is connected with the so-called "secret speech". But before talking about this, it is necessary to make one remark. When we want to penetrate into the nature of folklore or ancient literature, for example, when we try to understand the origins of this or that plot, image, we must first of all abstract ourselves from all modern ideas about the world. Otherwise, you can come to wrong conclusions.

A fairy tale is a product of past eras and the worldview of the past. Proceeding from this, it is necessary to “decipher” the fairy tale. The ideas of ancient man about the world were very special. Ancient man even laughed “in a wrong way” and not for the same reason that we laugh now. And which of us would think that swinging on a swing or riding an ice slide has its own secret meaning, something other than a fun holiday entertainment?

The life of an ancient person was strictly regulated by ritual, tradition, filled with many different prescriptions and prohibitions. There was, for example, a ban on pronouncing certain names under certain circumstances. Ancient man had a completely different attitude to the word. The word for him was part of what it meant. J. Fraser writes about this in his work The Golden Bough:

“Primitive man, unable to distinguish clearly between words and things, usually imagines that the connection between a name and the person or thing that it designates is not an arbitrary and ideal association, but a real, materially tangible tie that connected them. so closely that it is just as easy to exert a magical effect on a person through a name as through hair, nails, or another part of his body. Primitive man regards his name as an essential part of himself and takes proper care of it.

The name had to be kept secret, pronounced only in certain situations. Knowing the name of the enemy, it was possible to harm him through magic and sorcery: "The natives do not doubt that, having learned their secret names, the foreigner received an opportunity to harm by magic," writes Fraser. Therefore, many ancient peoples used to give two names each: one real, which was kept in deep secret, the second was known to everyone. Witchcraft allegedly worked only when using the original name.

J. Fraser gives an example of how a person caught stealing was corrected in the Kaffir tribe. To correct a thief, "it is enough just to shout his name over a boiling cauldron of healing water, cover the cauldron with a lid and leave the thief's name in the water for several days." Moral revival was provided to him.

Another example of magical faith in the word concerns the custom of the Negroes of the Bangal tribe of the Upper Congo. When a member of this tribe "fishes or returns from a catch, his name is temporarily banned. Everyone calls the fisherman mwele no matter what his real name is. This is done because the river is full of spirits, who, having heard the real name of the fisherman, can use it in order to prevent him from returning with a good catch. Even after the catch is landed, the buyers keep calling the fisherman mwele. For the spirits—when they heard his real name—would remember him and either get even with him the next day, or spoil the fish he had already caught so much that he would get little for it. Therefore, the fisherman has the right to receive a large fine from anyone who calls him by name, or to force this frivolous talker to buy the entire catch at a high price in order to restore good luck in the fishery.

Such representations were characteristic, obviously, of all ancient peoples. They were afraid to pronounce not only the names of people, but in general any names of creatures and objects with which the corresponding representations were associated. In particular, bans on pronouncing the names of animals, fish, and birds were widespread. These prohibitions were explained by man's anthropomorphic ideas about nature.

Comparison is at the heart of human knowledge. Cognizing the world, a person compares objects, phenomena, highlights common and distinctive features. The first idea of ​​a person is the idea of ​​himself, the awareness of himself. If people can move, speak, understand, hear, see, then in the same way they can hear, see, understand fish, birds, animals, and trees - all nature, the cosmos. Man animates the world around him. Anthropomorphism - likening the surrounding world to a person - is a necessary step in the development of mankind, in the development of its ideas about the surrounding world.

Anthropomorphic ideas and verbal prohibitions that arose on their basis were also recorded among the Eastern Slavic peoples. Russian traveler and explorer of the 18th century. S.P. Krasheninnikov in his book "Description of the land of Kamchatka" (1755) reports on the remains of an ancient secret speech among Russian hunters. S.P. Krasheninnikov writes that the elder in the sable trade “orders”, “so that they hunt with the truth, they would not hide anything to themselves ... also, according to the custom of their ancestors, a crow, a snake and a cat should not be called by direct names, but would be called riding, thin and baked. The industrialists say that in previous years, in the fields, many more things were called strange names, for example: a church - a sharp-topped one, a woman - a husk or a white-headed one, a girl - a commoner, a horse - a long-tailed one, a cow - a roar, a sheep - thin-legged, a pig - low-eyed, a rooster - barefoot." The industrialists considered the sable a smart animal and, in case of violation of the ban, they believed that it would harm and would not be caught again. Violation of the ban was punished.

The question of verbal prohibitions among hunters was discussed by D.K. Zelenin in the work "Taboo of words among the peoples of Eastern Europe and North Asia" (1929-1930). He considers the basis of the prohibitions of hunters and fishermen “first of all, the confidence of the primitive hunter that animals and game that understand the human language hear at very large distances - they hear not only everything that the hunter says in the forest while fishing, but often also what what he says at home, going to fish.

Learning from the conversations of the hunter his plans, the animals flee, as a result of which the hunt becomes unsuccessful. To prevent such unpleasant consequences, the hunter first of all avoids pronouncing the names of animals ... Thus, the proper names of game animals became forbidden in hunting.

There is nothing surprising that the church is also mentioned as a forbidden word among Russian hunters. The Eastern Slavs, until recently, retained many pagan ideas dating back to pre-Christian history, pre-class society. Pagan beliefs, right up to modern times, coexisted with Christian ones, but not peacefully and harmlessly, but rather antagonistically. Widespread persecution of traditional folk holidays, games, amusements, etc. by the Russian Church is known. This did not pass without a trace for folk art, including fairy tales. Demonological pagan creatures oppose Christian characters in folklore - this is the result of the struggle of the Russian church with folk beliefs. “Mountain father,” testifies A.A. Misyurev about the beliefs of the miners of the Urals, is the antipode of the Orthodox God and the worst enemy of church rites. “I am the same person as everyone else, I just don’t have a cross on me, my mother cursed me,” writes D.K. Zelenin.

After the adoption of Christianity, mermaids, for example, began to be thought of as girls who died unbaptized; the appearances of a goblin, a brownie, a devil, a demon often acquire similar features - a kind of general demonological image is formed. Christ never laughs, in medieval Moscow there was even a ban on laughter, and in bylichki laughter is a sign of evil spirits. Mermaid laughing, tickling kills people. Laughter is a sign of the devil, damn it. With a squeal and laughter, creatures born from the connection of the devil with a mortal woman disappear from the eyes. There are a lot of interesting links here that need to be specially investigated.

Naturally, a Russian hunter in the taiga, in the forest, was afraid to mention the Christian God or other characters of the Holy History, the church, the priest. With this, he could anger the owners of the forest, injure himself in a successful hunt, and therefore concealed his intentions. Hence the well-known saying “no fluff, no feather”, which was said before the hunter went out to hunt.

In the same way, a Christian was afraid to mention the name of the devil, to curse, especially in front of icons or in church, this was the greatest sacrilege. There are many stories in folklore in which the devil, the goblin appear immediately after the mention of their names and do what they were asked to do, voluntarily or involuntarily.

The secret speech was brought to us not only by a fairy tale, but also by a riddle. And in the riddle, it was reflected most fully. Try to guess the riddle:

Rynda digs, skinda jumps,
Thurman is coming, he'll eat you.

In this case, the answer is a pig, a hare and a wolf. Answers to such riddles must be known in advance, they are associated with a secret speech. There is no doubt that riddles taught secret speech, substitute words. Riddles were made at special evenings, and young, inexperienced members of the community, guessing them, learned secret speech. Here are some more examples of such riddles:

Shuru-muru came,
Carried away chiki-kicks,
The minnows saw
The inhabitants were told:
The inhabitants of Shuru-Mura caught up,
Cheeky kicks were taken away.
(Wolf, sheep, pig, man)
I went on tuh-tuh-tu,
I took with me taf-taf-tu,
And I found on snoring-tah-tu;
If only it wasn’t taf-taf-ta,
I would have been eaten by snoring-tah-ta.

(Translation: “I went hunting, I took my dog ​​with me, I found a bear…”)

Only with the widespread use of secret speech could such riddles exist. Now children and the elderly know riddles and fairy tales. This is an entertainment genre. In ancient times, the riddle was a much more serious genre. In Russian fairy tales and songs, whether the hero can solve the riddle often depends on his life or the fulfillment of what he wants, for example, a wedding.

In a famous ancient legend, the sphinx - a monster with the head and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird - asked travelers a riddle and killed everyone who could not guess it: three?" The Sphinx, located on a mountain near Thebes, killed many residents of the city, including the son of King Creon. The king announced that he would give the kingdom and his sister Jocasta as a wife to the one who would save the city from the sphinx. Oedipus guessed the riddle, after which the sphinx rushed into the abyss and crashed.

Guessing a riddle is obviously associated with a special relationship to the word, with the magic of the word. Guessing and guessing riddles is a kind of duel. The one who does not guess is defeated.

There are known bylichkas in which the competition in guessing riddles takes place between evil spirits and a person who will live only if they guess the riddles. Here is an example of such a bylichka, recorded in the Altai Territory:

“Three girls gathered to tell fortunes. Near the house where they told fortunes, a lost horse lay. Suddenly the horse jumped up and ran. She ran up to the house and began to ask for a hut. The girls got scared and turned to their grandmother. Grandmother put cups on their heads, went to the door and said to the horse: “If you guess the riddles that I will ask you, I will let you into the house, if not, then no.” The first riddle: “What in the world is for three braids?” The horse did not guess. Grandmother said the answer: “The first is for girls, the second is for the rooster, the third is for mowing.” The second riddle: “What in the world for three arcs?” The horse did not guess. The answer was this: the first is a harness, the second is a rainbow, the third is an arc near the boiler. The horse was forced to leave."

There is nothing exotic in this plot, it follows from the superstitious ideas of the people. It is possible to get rid of a dead horse only by resorting to the magic of the word, to a riddle.

Let us recall The Tale of Bygone Years, a legend about the revenge of Princess Olga on the Drevlyans for the murder of her husband, Prince Igor. The wise Olga, as it were, challenges the Drevlyans to a duel, which they do not know about, and this predetermines their death. The princess speaks allegorically, her words have a hidden meaning. Olga offers them honor (they will be carried in a boat like matchmakers) and asks them to say: “We don’t ride horses or wagons and we don’t go on foot, but carry us in a boat.” These words symbolize the funeral rite. The dead do everything differently than the living, as the riddle says: “I washed myself wrong, dressed up wrong, and sat down wrong, and drove wrong, I sat down in a pothole, there’s no way to leave.” Or: “I’m going, I’m not going by the way, I’m not driving with a whip, I drove into a pothole, I won’t leave in any way.” The answer is "funeral".

In the tale, the bride or groom often performs the difficult task of appearing "either on foot or on horseback, neither naked nor clothed." They unravel the secret meaning of this task, and everything ends happily - with a wedding. Olga's matchmakers do not understand the meaning of what is happening. The symbolism of the funeral rite is used twice: the Drevlyans bathe themselves and feast on their own death.

Russian folk song has preserved for us the motifs of wooing - guessing riddles. For example, the song "Game tavleynaya". Well done and the girl play tavlei (chess):

Well done played about three ships,
And the girl played about a violent head.
How the girl beat the young man,
The girl won three ships.
The good fellow is sad about his ships, the fair maiden reassures him:
Do not be sad, do not grieve, good fellow,
Perhaps your three ships will return,
How can you take me, a red-haired girl, for yourself:
Your ships follow me as a dowry.

The rite does not end there either: as expected, the young man makes riddles to the girl:

I'll tell the girl a riddle
Cunning, wise, unguessable:
Oh, what do we have, girl, without fire burns?
Does it burn without fire and fly without wings?
Does it fly without wings and run without legs?
The girl answers:
Without fire we have a red sun burning,
And without wings, a formidable cloud flies with us,
And without legs, our mother runs a fast river.

Next riddle:

Oh, how I have a cook boyfriend,
So unless after all he will take you for himself!
Yes, what the soul of the red maiden will say:

Already the riddle is not cunning, not wise,
Not cunning, not wise, only guessing:
I already have a gosling girl,
Will she go for you!

The competition is won, the girl has won, has shown her wisdom. It is remarkable that here the bride, as well as in the Russian rite of matchmaking in general, is called not directly, but allegorically.

Let's go back to secret speech. Let's consider a fairy tale in which it is very vividly presented - "Terem flies". In this tale, first of all, it is interesting how insects and animals call themselves.

“A man was driving with pots, he lost a large jug. A fly flew into the jug and began to live and live in it. The day lives, the other lives. A mosquito flew in and knocked:
- Who is in the mansion, who is in the tall ones?
- I'm a hype fly; and who are you?
- I'm a peeping mosquito.
- Come live with me.
So the two began to live together.

Then a mouse comes - “from around the corner a hmysten”, then a frog - “balagta on the water”, then a hare - “folded on the field”, a fox - “beauty on the field”, a dog - “gam-gum”, a wolf - “from -behind the bushes hap" and finally the bear - "forest oppression", which "sat down on a jug and crushed everyone."

It is remarkable that the riddle conveys to us such metaphorical names. A bear in a riddle - “an oppressor to everyone”, a hare - “a spinner across the path”, a wolf - “a snatch from behind a bush”, a dog - “taf-taf-ta”.

Let us turn again to the tale "The rich and the poor" and its connection with the secret speech. Now this connection is clear enough. However, one more very important remark must be made. We spoke about the sacred attitude to secret speech, a very serious attitude, based on absolute faith in the need to use such speech in life, in its connection with the magic of the word. A fairy tale is a genre based on pure fiction, there is no connection between the events of a fairy tale and modern reality. Secret speech, the magic of the word is parodied in a fairy tale, its use is subject to fairy canons.

The fairy tale "The Rich and the Pauper" is characterized, first of all, by the social opposition of the characters: the poor and the rich. Initially, the rich have the upper hand, laughing at the poor. He owns a secret speech, he is initiated into it. The rich man riddles the beggar. The beggar did not guess anything, the rich man laughed at him, did not accept him as a worker.

But according to the laws of a fairy tale, the rich cannot defeat the poor. It happens here too: the beggar took revenge on the rich, he turned out to be smarter than him. It all ends with a joke, a hilarious pun. In this joke, not only a typical fairy tale ending, but laughter is also heard at the tradition of the most secret speech, at belief in the magic of the word. Here is the riddle from which this fairy tale was born:

darkness lightness
Carried to the height
But there was no grace at home.

(Cat, spark, roof, water).

Secret speech is also parodied in fairy tales about a cunning soldier (Russian folk satirical tales of Siberia. Novosibirsk, 1981. Nos. 91-93). The fairy tale "For a rainy day" is recorded among all the Eastern Slavic peoples, including several variants - in Siberia. Its plot is this:

“There lived two old men, they worked all their lives without straightening their backs. They saved up pennies for a rainy day. One day the old man went to the market, and a soldier came to the grandmother. The grandmother thought that this “rainy day” had come. The soldier took all the money and begged for another 25 rubles - he sold the “solinets” to the old woman. He took out an iron tooth from a harrow from his pocket and said:

- That's what you're cooking, then stir with this salt and say: “Salt, salt, the old man will come from the market, put it in your sack, you will have clappers, will you slippers! It will be salty!”

How the fairy tale ended - you can guess. The comic effect is enhanced by the fact that the soldier speaks in an allegorical, secret speech, and the old woman does not understand him. The same is true for the next story. The first riddle this time is the old woman. She didn't feed two soldiers.

“Here one soldier went out into the yard, released the cattle into the threshing floor, into sheaves of bread, comes and says:
- Grandmother, there the cattle went into the threshing floor.
- And you, by any chance, did not release the cattle?
The old woman went to the threshing floor to drive out the cattle, and the soldiers here managed to make their own prey: they looked into the pot in the oven, pulled out the rooster, and put the bast shoes. An old woman comes, sits on a chair and says:
- Guess the riddle, I'll give you something to eat.
- Well, guess.
She tells them:
- Kurukhan Kurukhanovich is cooking under the frying pan.
“No, grandmother, Plet Plekhanovich is cooking under a frying pan, and Kurukhan Kurukhanovich has been transferred to Sumin-city.”

The old woman did not understand that she had been deceived and let the soldiers go, giving them a piece of bread as well. She “guessed” the riddle only when, instead of a rooster, she pulled a bast shoe out of the pot. In another version of the tale of the same collection, Kurukhan Kurukhanovich from the city of Pechinsk is transferred to the city of Suminsk.

Such tales are close to an anecdote and perform the same function as it - they ridicule not only human greed and stupidity, but also parody the rite. Serious becomes funny and cheerful. This is the way of any tradition, any rite associated with beliefs in magical power. In antiquity, the ritual of swinging was associated with the belief in a connection between swinging upwards, tossing objects and the growth of vegetation. The church forbade this rite. Those who crashed on the swing were buried without a funeral service, often not in the cemetery, but next to the swing. In the same way, the skiing of the newlyweds from the ice slide to Shrove Tuesday was supposed to ensure fertility and the future harvest.

K. Marx in his work “The Tragic and the Comic in Real History” has wonderful words: “History acts thoroughly and goes through many phases when it takes an outdated form of life to the grave. The last phase of the world-historical form is its comedy. The gods of Greece, who were already once - in a tragic form - mortally wounded in Aeschylus's Chained Prometheus, had to die once more - in a comic form - in Lucian's Conversations. Why is the course of history like this? This is necessary in order for humanity to cheerfully part with its past.

We are talking about the law of the development of human history, the understanding of which gives a lot for understanding the process of cultural development, including for understanding the folklore process.

Buryat people

Buryats (self-name - Buryats), a people in the Russian Federation, one of the many peoples of Siberia. The main population of Buryatia (273 thousand people), also live in the Irkutsk region (80 thousand people), including in the Ust-Orda district (54 thousand people), in the Chita region (70 thousand people), including in the Aginsky district ( 45 thousand people), in the Far Eastern Federal District (10 thousand people). In total, there are 445 thousand people in the Russian Federation (2002). The Buryats also live in the north of Mongolia (35 thousand people) and in the northeast of China. The total number of Buryats is more than 500 thousand people.

During the period of the appearance of the first Russian settlers in the Baikal region, cattle breeding played a predominant role in the economy of the Buryat tribes; semi-nomadic among the western and nomadic among the eastern tribes. The Buryats raised sheep, cattle, goats, horses and camels. Additional types of economic activity were hunting, farming and fishing, which are more developed among the Western Buryats; on the coast of Lake Baikal there was a fishery for seals. Buryat beliefs - historically, the spiritual sphere of society was formed in Buryatia under the mutual influence of Buddhism, shamanism of the indigenous peoples and the Old Believers. From the end of the 16th century Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism) became widespread. From the middle of the XVII century. the first Orthodox churches and chapels appeared in Transbaikalia. (more about Buryat beliefs HERE http://irkipedia.ru/content/verovaniya_buryat)

Buryat men's and women's clothing differed relatively little. The lower clothing consisted of a shirt and trousers, the upper one was a long loose robe with a wrap on the right side, which was girded with a wide cloth sash or belt belt. Married women wore a sleeveless vest over their robes - udzhe, which had a slit in front, which was also made on a lining. Temple pendants, earrings, necklaces, and medallions were favorite adornments for women. The Buryat headdress is called malgay. Outerwear is called - degel. The shoes of the Buryats are gutul. The corners of the shelves, the bottom, the sleeves are decorated with a ribbon geometric ornament, and circular elements are scattered over the surface.

Folklore Buryat

The Buryats live in Buryatia (the capital is the city of Ulan-Ude), in the Chita and Irkutsk regions. In the territories where the Buryats now live, many tribes lived in the 17th century. Having merged, they formed the Buryat nation. In the 17th century, the Buryats became part of the Russian state.

Before the revolution, the Buryats used the Mongolian script. In 1931, its own script was created. The founder of Buryat literature is the outstanding writer Hotsa Namsaraev (1889-1959). Known poets Nikolai Damdinov (born in 1932), Dondok Ulzytuev (1936-1972). The Buryat folklore is rich, the heroic epic - "Alamzhi-Mergen", "Geser" is widely known.

The first researcher of Buryat ethnography and folklore was the exiled Decembrist Nikolai Bestuzhev (1791-1855), an artist and writer who lived from 1839 in a settlement in Selenginsk.

Buryat folklore - oral folk art, began to take shape back in pre-Chinggis Khan times, it was a form of knowledge of life, artistic perception of the world around. Buryat folklore consists of myths, uligers, shamanic invocations, legends, cult hymns, fairy tales, proverbs, sayings, riddles. Myths about the origin of the universe and life on earth. Uligers are epic poems of large size: from 5 thousand to 25 thousand lines. The content of the poems is heroic.

The history of the Buryat ethnos and its culture are closely connected with Central Asia. This is convincingly evidenced by the top folk poetic creation - the epic "Geser". The name of this epic hero - a champion of goodness and justice - sounds like a symbol of the common cultural and moral values ​​of the peoples inhabiting the vast territory from the Himalayas to Baikal. No wonder the epic "Geser" is called the Iliad of Central Asia.

Tales of the Buryats

In the fairy tale tradition, on the basis of ethnic and linguistic commonality, the kinship of Mongolian, Buryat and Kalmyk fairy tales is clearly traced. An undoubted typological closeness is also found with the fabulous epic of the neighboring Turkic-speaking peoples - the Altaians, Tuvans, Khakasses and Yakuts. These similarities come from the original adequacy of the natural habitat, forms of farming and mentality of the historical ancestors of these peoples.

Let's fast forward for a moment to times past, to an old Buryat yurt, lost in the steppe space. In it, evening warmth emanates from the hearth and from the breathing of people who came to the yurt to listen to the famous storyteller in these parts - Ontokhoshin. He sits on the khoimor - the northern side of the yurt, traditionally intended for respected guests. From time immemorial, the word of art and performance skills have been highly valued in the steppe. No wonder there is a folk proverb, which in translation sounds something like this: "The storyteller sits on an honorary mat, and the singer sits on a hill."

Source: Children of the Beast Maana. Tales of the peoples of Siberia about animals./ Compiled by Erta Gennadievna. Paderina; artist H. Avrutis, - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 1988. - 144 p., ill.

CHICKEN AND CAT

“I like you, chicken,” the cat once said. “You are gray and I am gray, we need to make friends with you.”

The chicken did not believe her and said:

“I remember how your mother stole my chicken last year. Is it possible to rely on you? You know that I never offend anyone. And you cats are notorious bullies. If you can, then prove your loyalty, cat!

The cat did not find what to answer, and was very upset.

But a few days later the cat came to hunt for mice in the old threshing floor, where there was a haystack.

Suddenly the chicken cackled in fright and rushed under the haystack.

"What's happened? thought the cat. “Perhaps she needs help...”

The cat ran after her and saw that a hawk was falling on her from the sky. From a height, he did not notice the difference, because the cat and the chicken were both gray.

The cat quickly turned on its back, clinging to the hawk with its sharp claws. Then death came to him, the villain.

Then the hen came out of the shelter and said:

“Now I believe you, cat. Only a true friend can do that.

And someone still thinks that a cat and a chicken can never be friends!

MOUSE AND CAMEL

(Translated by A. Prelovsky)

One day a very big and very stupid camel got into an argument with a small but smart mouse.

I will see the sunrise before you,” said the camel.

No, I am, said the mouse.

Where are you! You are no bigger than my eyelash. I am a mountain compared to you. How can you compete with me!

They argued, argued, decided to make sure. They began to wait for the morning.

The camel reasoned thus: “I am a hundred times bigger than this mouse. So, I will notice the sunrise a hundred times faster. And since the earth is round, no matter where the sun rises from, I will still see it. And still the first!

Silly camel! He did not know that the sun always rises in the east!

The camel turned its face to the south and began to look. And the little mouse climbed onto the camel's hump and began to look to the east.

- Here it is, the sun! I saw you before! Oh you camel! the mouse screamed and jumped to the ground.

The camel turned around and saw that the sun had already risen and seemed to be laughing at him. He got terribly angry. Not on yourself, of course, but on the mouse.

He rushed in pursuit of her, wanted to trample her. But the clever mouse managed to hide in the ashes from yesterday's fire.

Since then, every time a camel sees ashes, he lies down and starts rolling on it. He gets smeared from head to toe, gets up satisfied and thinks that this time he has dealt with the hated mouse.

The mouse, you see, is to blame for being smarter than the camel!

WOLF

(Translated by G. Kungurov. Artist H. Avrutis)

The wolf ran to the river. Looks, the foal got stuck in the mud. The wolf wanted to eat him.

The foal groaned:

- You first pull me out, and then eat ...

The wolf agreed, pulled the foal out of the mud.

The foal looked around.

- Wait, wolf, don't eat me: I'm dirty. Let me dry, clean the dirt, then eat.

The foal dried up in the sun, cleansed itself. The wolf opened its mouth. The foal said:

“Look, wolf, I have a golden seal hidden in the hoof of my hind leg. Take it, you will become rich, everyone will envy you ...

The wolf rejoiced.

The foal raised its leg. The wolf began to look for a golden seal in the hoof.

The foal hit the wolf on the forehead so hard that the wolf turned his belly up. Cries, tears flow in streams.

The foal ran away.

The wolf got angry and thinks:

Why didn't I eat it right away? What is he to me - a son or a brother?

A stallion is grazing near the cattle. The wolf bared his teeth and grunted:

I will eat you!

Sit on my back, - says the stallion. - I'll ride you, then eat me.

The wolf sat on the stallion. He rushed faster than the wind. He ran under the hedge, and the wolf hit the top pole so hard that he fell off the stallion and lay like a dead man for a long time. He got up, staggering, trudged to the ulus.

Pigs grazed there, dug the ground.

The hungry wolf screamed:

- I'll eat you.

- You, wolf, first listen to how we sing.
And the pigs squealed loudly.

The men came running, the wolf barely carried his legs. He went back to the forest, and a hunting dog met him.

I'll eat you, says the wolf.

I saw the carcass of a goat, I was delighted. He sank his teeth into her and fell into a trap.

HARTAGAY

(Translated by A. Prelovsky)

In the most ancient times, the hunter Hartagai saw a flock of wild chickens in a clearing. Without thinking twice, Hartagai set up nooses and nets, and the chickens got caught in them. Hartagai brought them home and put them in a barn. The chickens guessed that Hartagai was going to cook dinner out of them, and prayed:

“Good Hartagai, don’t kill us!” For this we promise you to lay eggs. You will always be full, rich and satisfied with us.

Hartagai did not kill chickens.

But one day Hartagai heard that the chickens were conspiring to fly away when he went hunting again.

Hartagai took a knife and clipped the wings of the chickens, and put the feathers in his travel bag. And went to the taiga.

The chickens are sad. They flap their clipped wings, but they cannot rise into the sky. Then the rooster jumped on the fence and said:

Don't worry, chickens, all is not lost. In the morning I will ask Hartagai for our wings. If he doesn't give it back in the morning, I'll ask at noon. At noon he will not give it back - in the evening I will ask again. And if he doesn’t give it back in the evening, I’ll ask at midnight.

The rooster raised its head to the sky and crowed loudly. But Hartagai did not hear him: he was far away in the taiga.

One day, another cock crows, but Hartagai still does not return. Probably something bad happened to him. Whether the beast attacked, or something else. The hunter never returned.

And the chickens still hope to fly home, to their native wild-forest forests. That is why the rooster is still crowing - calling Hartagai, asking him for his wings. He calls in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and at midnight.

PIG AND SNAKE

(Translated by A. Prelovsky. Artist H. Avrutis)

The greedy poisonous snake crawled every day to the old barnyard to bask in the sun and hunt at the same time. The ground was black, the snake was also black, it was difficult to notice it.

The rumor about the insidious snake spread far. Geese, calves, chickens - everyone began to bypass the old yard.

Only a fat, fat pig, as if nothing had happened, rummaged under the fence, swam in puddles and slept in the sun. She did not notice that she was left alone in the yard.

The goose tried to warn her of danger. And she answered him: “oink” and “oink”! The goose did not understand what the pig wanted to say to him, and left.

Everyone has already come to terms with the idea that sooner or later the pig will not get enough.

But something completely unexpected happened.

Once a pig was wandering around the yard, as usual, picking the ground with its nose and grunting with pleasure. And she was so carried away by this matter that she did not even notice how she stepped on a sleeping snake.

The snake woke up and remembered that she was hungry. The snake raised its narrow predatory head with a terrible forked sting and bit the pig on the side. But the pig did not feel pain - know yourself digging in the ground, the roots crunch on your teeth.

The snake got angry. Let's bite the pig anywhere, so fury has blinded her.

The evil snake did not know that its poisonous venom was not at all terrible for a pig. I did not know that a pig does not feel a bite at all.

The snake jumped around the pig for a long time until it noticed it. And when I noticed, I was very surprised:

What a big worm! Let me try...

I bit off the tip of the tail - delicious! And the pig ate the whole snake, nothing was left of it.

Thus came the end of the evil and terrible snake. Chickens, geese, calves - all returned again to their old barnyard.

But when they thanked the pig for delivering them from the snake, the pig answered: "oink" yes "oink"!

They did not understand what the pig wanted to say.

CRANE

(Translated by G. Kungurov. Artist H. Avrutis)

Collected crane birds from all over the world. He wanted to be their king. All the birds flocked, except for the smallest, her name was Buk-sergein. A beautiful bird, a songbird, like a nightingale.

The birds have been waiting for her for a long time. The crane stretched out its long neck, looking to see if a beautiful bird would soon arrive. The crane could not stand it and went to look for Buxergine. He met her, angrily asked:

Why don't you fly for so long? All birds are waiting for you.

I flew from a distant land, tired. You see - I sit, rest, feed.

The Crane was quite angry:

“Because of you, I still haven’t become a king!” - And he began to peck at Buxergine. She broke her right wing.

Buxergine wept, birds flocked, asking:

- What happened to you?

- Here the crane got angry with me, broke its wing, I can’t fly.

Then the birds chirped:

- ABOUT! We don't need such an evil king. He will break our wings.

The birds began to judge the crane and decided to punish him. They said:

- When the crane flies to warm lands and back, he must carry Buxergine on his back.

And now you can see: the crane is flying, and the little bird always sits on its back.

SNOW AND HARE

(Translated by A. Prelovsky)

Snow says to the hare:

Something gave me a headache.

You must be melting, that's why your head hurts, - the hare answered.

He sat down on a stump and wept bitterly:

I'm sorry, I'm sorry for you, snow. From the fox, from the wolf, from the hunter, I burrowed into you, hid. How will I live now? Any crow, any owl will see me, peck. I will go to the owner of the forest, I will ask him to keep you, snow, for me.

And the sun is already high, it's hot, the snow is melting, it runs in streams from the mountains.

The hare began to yearn, crying even louder. The owner of the forest heard the hare. He listened to his request and said:

- I can’t argue with the sun, I can’t save the snow. Change your white fur coat to a gray one, you will easily hide in the summer among dry leaves, shrubs and grass, no one will notice you.

The hare was happy.

Since then, he always changes his winter white coat for a summer one - gray.

Magpie and her chicks

Once a magpie turned to her chicks with the words:

“My children, you have already grown up, and it is time for you to get food and live your own life.

She said so and, leaving the nest, flew with the chicks to the neighboring grove. She showed them how to catch midges and insects, how to drink water from a taiga lake. But the chicks do not want to do anything themselves.

Let's fly back to the nest, they whimper. No worries, no hassles.

My children, - the magpie says again. - You have already become big, and my mother threw me out of the nest quite small ...

What if we all get shot with a bow? the chicks ask.

Don't be afraid, the magpie replies.

All this is so, - the chicks roared, - but what will happen if a person throws a stone at us? Any boy can do this without even aiming.

In order to take a stone, a person bends down, - the magpie answers.

And if a person has a stone in his bosom? the chicks asked.

Whoever, with his mind, has reached the idea of ​​​​a stone hidden in his bosom, he will be able to escape death, - said the magpie and flew away.

THE HUNTER AND THE PEOPLE WIFE

(Source: Polar bear and brown bear: Tales of the peoples of Russia in the retellings of Mark Vatagin; compiled, introductory article and comment by M. Vatagin; Artists A. Kokovkin, T. Chursinova. - St. Petersburg: Republican publishing house of children's and youth literature " Lyceum, 1992. - 351 p.)

In former, distant times, a brave hunter, a well-aimed shooter lived in the world. He always hit without a miss, never came home empty-handed.

But then one day he walked through the forest all day and until the evening he did not meet either an animal or a bird. Tired, exhausted, he went to bed. He sleeps and sees a strange dream: a yellow fog fell on him, and then a motley fog approached. The hunter woke up and sees: a yellow fog is approaching him. He was frightened, grabbed his bow, put an arrow in, but a human voice was heard from the fog:

“Don't shoot me, brave hunter, I won't harm you. The fog became even thicker, denser and turned into a yellow snake with colorful rattling wings. The Spotted Serpent said:

Let's be friends, brave hunter, well-aimed shooter. I need your help. For many years I have been at war with the yellow-winged serpent and I cannot overcome it. Together we will defeat him.

I am ready to help you,” said the hunter.

Then let's go to the valley where the battle will be, - said the motley-winged serpent.

They came to a wide valley.

“Our fight will be long,” said the variegated serpent. “We will ascend to the sky three times and descend to the earth three times. When we rise for the fourth time, my enemy will overcome me, take over; when we go down, he will be at the top and I will be at the bottom. At this time, do not yawn: I will turn his yellow head towards you, and you shoot in his only eye. This eye is in his forehead, in the very middle of his forehead. Now hide in this hole, soon the yellow-winged serpent will rush from the sky right at me.

The hunter hid in a hole.

Soon, a yellow-winged serpent rushed from the sky. The battle has begun. The snakes, having grappled, rose three times to the sky, three times fell to the ground. The forces were equal. But now they rose to the sky for the fourth time, and the yellow-winged serpent overcame the motley-winged one. When they descended, the yellow-winged one was above and the variegated-winged one was below. But the motley-winged one quickly turned the head of his enemy to the hunter. The sharpshooter was just waiting for that. The string of his bow was drawn. A moment was enough for him to shoot an arrow and pierce the yellow eye of a yellow-winged serpent. And then a yellow poisonous fog fell on the ground, from which all the trees in the forest withered, and all the animals died. The hunter was saved by a variegated serpent. He covered his friend with mighty dense wings and kept him under them for three days and three nights until the yellow poisonous fog dissipated.

And when the sun shone again, the variegated serpent said:

We have defeated a formidable enemy. Thank you hunter. The yellow-winged serpent did a lot of harm. Every day he swallowed three beasts and devoured the fiery serpents, my subjects. If not for you, he would have killed me and devoured all the fire kites. Come visit me. You will see my palace, my subjects, my old parents.

The hunter agreed, and he and the serpent descended into a deep pit, and from there through an underground passage they got into a palace sparkling with gold and precious stones. On the floor lay fiery serpents coiled into coils. One room was followed by another, even richer. And so they came to the largest hall. In it, near the hearth, sat two old multi-winged snakes.

“These are my parents,” said the serpent. The hunter greeted them.

This hunter saved me and all my khanate,” said the serpent. “He killed our old enemy.

Thank you, said the snake's old parents. For this you will receive a reward. If you want, we will give you gold and precious stones, as much as you can carry. If you want, we will teach seven ten languages, so that you can understand the conversations of birds, animals and fish. Choose!

Teach me seventy languages, said the hunter.

Better take gold and jewels, said the snake's old parents. - For someone who knows seventy languages, life is not easy.

No, I don’t want gold, teach me languages,” the hunter asked.

Well, have it your way, said the old variegated serpent. “From now on you know seventy languages, from now on you hear the conversations of birds, fish and animals. But this is a secret. You must keep it from people. If you let it slip, you will die the same day.

The hunter left the Spotted Serpent Khanate and went home. He walks through the forest and rejoices: after all, he understands everything that animals and birds say among themselves. The hunter came out of the forest. Here is the yurt. "I'll go into it," he thinks. And the dog barks:

“Come here, traveler. Although this is a poor man's yurt, but our host is kind, he will treat you. We have only one cow, but the owner will give you milk, we have only one black ram, but the owner pays the last ram for the guest.

The hunter entered the poor man's yurt. The owner politely greeted him, seated him in a place of honor. The host's wife served the guest a bowl of milk. The poor man invited the hunter to spend the night, and in the evening killed a black ram for him. As they ate, the dog whined:

- Good guest, drop the lamb shoulder, I will grab it and run out, the owner will not be angry with you.

The hunter dropped his shovel. The dog grabbed her and ran away. And then she barked:

— A kind guest treated me to a delicious spatula. I will not sleep all night, I will guard the yurt.

The wolves came at night. They stopped near the poor man's yurt and howled:

Now we'll take the horse!

My master has only one horse, you can't eat it. If you come closer, I will raise a loud bark. The owner will wake up, his guest-hunter will wake up, and then you will be unhappy. Better go there, to the rich man, bully his fat gray mare, he has many horses, and his dogs are hungry, they will not want to bark at you.