Fairy Tales Endings: The Hero's Journey and the Storyteller's Journey

In world folklore, many types of final formulas of fairy tales are known (see: 6 ; 16 ; 19 ; 5 ; 7 ; 14 ; and etc.). In their motley row, a certain type of ending stands somewhat apart: the narrator tells in them about events that happened to him and were somehow connected with the told fairy tale. One of the variants of such a formula is well known in Russian material: “And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth.” Along with this, there are more lengthy and original stories.

Endings of this kind belong to two known types of final (as well as initial) formulas. In the first, the narrator points to authenticity fabulous events (in the endings - emphasizing that he himself was their witness). Within the framework of the second, on the contrary, he points to a deliberate unreality told (in the endings - he talks about himself in a playful context, using various "impossible formulas").

Despite the cardinal difference in intention (to point out the authenticity/unreliability of the story), the endings we are interested in are built according to a common model. Since they are about a kind of journey, the movement of the hero-narrator, they can be conditionally divided into options for “successful” and “unsuccessful path”. The structure of such formulas in both versions is related to fairy-tale and mythological models (Compare: 12 . pp. 443-444), and it is on this feature that I would like to focus attention in this article.

To begin with, let's turn to the more famous endings of the "bad path".

1. OPTION OF THE "UNSUCCESSFUL PATH"

1.1. " And I was there". Traditionally, the narrator's first statement boils down to the fact that he was present at the fairy tale locus (most often at a feast) and was an eyewitness to the final events of the fairy tale. This is stated directly, or, more rarely, indirectly (“I barely brought my feet home from that feast” ( 1 . S. 227), etc.). The phrase “I was there” is self-sufficient and can be used in the endings of the “good luck” without any additions, but in the version under consideration this is only the beginning of the story.

One of the key structural models of a fairy tale is the hero's journey to the "far away kingdom" - the afterlife. The plot construction, as a rule, is three-part: 1 - the road to another world and crossing the border from the world of the living to the world of the dead, 2 - adventures in the world of the dead and 3 - the road back and the reverse border crossing. It is noteworthy that the story told by the hero-narrator about the events that happened to him at the fairy-tale feast is built on a similar pattern in both versions of the endings.

1.2. Inedible treat. Once at the feast, the hero-narrator starts the meal: he wants to taste honey, fish soup, cabbage, etc. However, all his attempts to eat something turn out to be fruitless: the treat is inedible, or simply does not get into the mouth. The model “And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth” in various modifications is widespread in Slavic fairy tales (See, for example: 3 . 3, 81, 95, 103, 109, 123, 124, 126, 128, 129, 132, 134, 135, 141, 151, 157, 160, 162, 182, 184, 197, 202, 203, 210, 251, 270, 279, 284, 293, 294, 322, 331, 344, 379, etc.) and is present in the folklore of other nations (See, for example: 11 . S. 416). However, "honey-beer" (honey-wine, honey) is by no means the only treat that the hero does not eat; there are also such: “I was there, sipped my ear together, it flowed down my mustache, it didn’t get into my mouth” ( 3 . 81), “I sipped kutya with a large spoon, it flowed down my beard - it didn’t get into my mouth!” ( 3 . 207), “Beluzhins filed - remained without supper” ( 3 . 124). In addition, more original options are also used: “to whom they brought it with a ladle, and to me with a sieve” ( 3 . 322); “They called me to him to drink honey-beer, but I didn’t go: honey, they say, was bitter, and the beer was cloudy. Why such a parable? ( 3 . 151); “They gave me a pancake that had rotted in a tub for three years” ( 26 . S. 217; compare: 31 . S. 103); “here they treated me: they took away the pelvis from the bull and poured milk; then they gave a roll, helping in the same pelvis. I didn't drink, I didn't eat... 3 . 137); “they gave me a cup with a hole, but my mouth is crooked - everything ran past, it didn’t get into my mouth” ( 27 . S. 32); “And they had fish, they had shshuk, I shuffled around the dish, lifted my claws, didn’t score anything - I was so hungry and went away” ( 14 . S. 38), etc. Such options, despite all the variety, emphasize one idea: the food offered at the feast was disgusting, or was unadapted for eating, as a result of which the hero-narrator did not take it into his mouth.

The motive of eating food is very important in a fairy tale context - on the border of another world, the hero needs to taste the food of the dead, despite the fact that it is antagonistic to the food of the living and very dangerous for the latter. “... We see that, having stepped over the threshold of this world, first of all you need to eat and drink,” wrote V.Ya. Propp, - “Having joined the food intended for the dead, the stranger finally joins the world of the dead. Hence the ban on touching this food for the living. 17 . S. 69). The hero of fairy tales himself asks for the food of the dead from the guard of the border and eats it, thereby passing into the afterlife. He then finds his way back—often the return journey is made possible by acquired magical powers in the form of magical items or helpers (see: 17 . pp. 166-201). Something else happens with the hero-narrator: having got to the feast, he cannot touch the treats. In accordance with the logic of a fairy tale, the border in this case cannot be overcome. Let's see if other elements of the endings correspond to this situation.

1.3. Exile. In the case when the narrator does not confine himself to a brief formula, but continues to talk about his "adventures", the refusal of food is followed by beating and exile hero: “I was at that wedding, I drank wine, it flowed down my mustache, it was not in my mouth. They put a cap on me and push me; they put a body on me: “You, kid, don’t goose, get out of the yard as soon as possible” ”( 3 . 234), “I didn’t drink, I didn’t eat, I decided to wipe myself off, they began to fight with me; I put on a cap, they began to push in the neck! ( 3 . 137), “And I was there, drinking wine and beer, it flowed down my lips, but it didn’t get into my mouth; then they gave me a cap and pushed me out; I resisted, but got out" ( 3 . 250), etc. Sometimes ideas are combined in one rhyming phrase: "... I didn't drink, they started beating me. I began to resist, they started to fight. Scandalous was the feast at which I was "( 20 . S. 269. Hereinafter, my italics - YES.).

Thus, the hero-narrator is quickly expelled from the fairy-tale locus. It is noteworthy that some endings speak specifically of the failed penetration into the fairy-tale space: “Then I wanted to see the prince and princess, but they began to shove them from the yard; I sniffed into the doorway - I knocked my whole back! ( 3 . 313). There is no idea of ​​refusing food here, but the motive of failure on the way to the heroes of the fairy tale is clearly expressed.

1.4. Disappearing Gifts and the Return of a Hero. Following the story of the ill-fated meal, in many endings of the "unfortunate path" it is about the loss of items received at the feast by the hero-narrator. The following endings can serve as an example: “... they gave me a blue caftan, a crow flies and shouts:“ Blue caftan! Blue caftan! I think: "Throw off your caftan!" - took it and threw it away. They gave me a cap and started pushing me in the neck. They gave me red shoes, the crow flies and cries: "Red shoes! Red shoes!" I think: "Stole the shoes!" - took it and left it" ( 3 . 292), “... they gave me a caftan, I go home, and the titmouse flies and says: “Yes blue is good!” I thought: "Throw off and put it down!" I took it off, and put it down ... "( 3 . 430; compare: 30 . S. 405; 31 . S. 103; 22 . pp. 115, 169, 209, 228, 250, 257, 278; 14 . pp. 40-41). So, the hero-narrator receives some things, just as the hero of a fairy tale, having successfully crossed the border, can receive magical gifts from its guardian. However, having not eaten food and being expelled, he loses everything he has received, fails and returns with nothing.

The very movement of the hero-narrator back to the ordinary world from the fairy-tale space often occurs in a comical, unrealistic way. If in the endings of the “good journey” the hero returns on foot or arrives on horseback, then in this version he is fired from a cannon, he sails on an oar, arrives on a chicken, a straw, etc. (See, for example: 11 . S. 377; 23 . S. 273; 24 . S. 55; 19 . pp. 58-61). The road back to the ordinary world takes place in an obviously absurd way (“they took me by the nose and threw me over the bridge; I rolled and rolled, and ended up here”: 14 . S. 39). "Formula of the Impossible" here parody emphasizes the unreality of the events described.

In various modifications, the variant of the “unfortunate path” is known to the storytellers of many peoples (See, for example: 19 . pp. 61-70; 2 . S. 98; 33 . pp. 195-196). Such endings retain traces of fabulous-mythological models, mirror-transformed in relation to the path of the hero of the fairy tale (and related to the path of the hero-antagonist).

2. OPTION "GOOD WAY"

In contrast to the considered final formulas, the variant of the "successful path" is built according to the classic scenario of a fairy tale. Here there is a motif of testing by food, but the hero-narrator does not violate the rules: “I myself was visiting him. Braga drank, ate halva! ( 9 . P. 64, cf.: p. 57), “They arranged a rich wedding. And they gave me a good drink, and now they live in happiness and prosperity ”( 8 . P. 140), “I was there recently, I drank honey-beer, bathed in milk, wiped myself with a hollow”, etc. ( 20 . S. 117. Compare: S. 152, 188; 3 . 283). After that, it is no longer about exile and flight, but about crossing the border and successfully returning back: this motif can be represented by many elements, including latently - through a certain contrast between the described loci.

We find a vivid picture of this kind in Persian fairy tales. I will give one of the options built according to the general model: “We went up - we found curdled milk, and considered the fairy tale to be our truth. We went back down, plunged into the serum, and our fairy tale turned into a fable ”( 15 . S. 188). In this case, we have three oppositions: 1 - curdled milk - whey, 2 - top - bottom, and 3 - fiction - fiction.

2.1. Yogurt - whey. In different variations of the “good luck” endings, the hero-narrator can drink certain drink, or bathe in him. Bathing in two liquids is a well-known fairy-tale plot: both the hero and the antagonist hero (the old king) bathe in milk and water, with different consequences. V.Ya. Propp emphasized that this motive is associated with the transformation of a person on the way to another world and back ( 17 . pp. 321, 341). As in a fairy tale, two liquids are most often mentioned in the final formulas: whey (churning) and curdled milk, which corresponds to a double passage of the border.

A variant of the endings, which talks about drinking liquids (“They hurried upstairs - they drank whey, went downstairs - they ate yogurt”: 15 . P. 35), in turn, refers to the fairy-tale motif of “living and dead” (“strong and weak”) water. These drinks are also used to move between worlds: “A dead man who wants to go to another world uses only water. A living person who wants to get there also uses only one. A person who has set foot on the path of death and wants to return to life uses both types of water. 17 . S. 199). Similarly, the narrator's border crossing is accompanied by drinking two different liquids.

2.2. Top bottom. The concepts of "top" and "bottom" in the endings under consideration complement the opposition of "curdled milk" and "whey"; in a fairy tale context, they, in turn, are directly related to the opposition of the earthly and other worlds. According to one of the basic mythological models, the other world is vertically removed from the earthly one - up and/or down. In the endings, the use of these concepts is unstable - "up" and "down" can be mentioned by the narrator as on the way there, and back. Such instability, in turn, is characteristic of mythology and folklore: the system has the ability to “turn over”, i.e. the concepts of "top" or "bottom" can both mean both the realm of the dead and the world of the living (See: 10 . pp. 233-234).

2.3. Reality - fiction. The third opposition, "true - fiction", is a very remarkable motif that introduces the category reality, or relation to reality. In Persian fairy tales, such examples are often found: “We went upstairs - we found curdled milk, and they considered our fairy tale to be true. We went back down - we plunged into the whey, and our fairy tale turned into a fable, "" And we went down - we found yogurt, we ran along the upper path - we saw the whey, they called our fairy tale a fable. They hurried upstairs - they drank whey, went downstairs - they ate yogurt, our fairy tale became a reality "( 15 . pp. 188, 35, 16; 29 . S. 107), etc. As you can see, the attitude to the fairy tale changes on different sides of the line crossed by the hero: crossing the border leads him to a space where the fairy tale turns out to be true (true), the reverse transition leads to a world where the fairy tale is a fiction. This option is also interesting: “This tale of ours is a true story, if you go up, you will find yogurt, if you go down, you will find yogurt, and in our fairy tale you will find the truth” ( 15 . S. 167). In order to discover the truth in what is told, it is thus necessary to cross the border - a fairy tale is recognized as a truth that belongs to a different space: what is unreal in the earthly world is real in the other world, and vice versa. This is how the relationship between the world of the living and the dead is built in folklore; the world of the dead is an “inverted” world of the living, the laws and realities of these loci are in mirror opposition to each other.

2.4. Return and transfer of knowledge. The motive of return is presented in the endings of the "good luck" in a variety of modifications. Traditionally, the narrator claims that he appeared among the listeners, in a given locality, state, etc., directly from the fairy tale locus: “Now I came from there and found myself among you” ( 1. S. 29); “They are still there, and I came to you” ( 32 . S. 459. Cf.: S. 84, 101, 235, 243), etc. This motif is often associated with a different idea: as a result of the movement, the narrator conveys to people the knowledge he has received (“I was at this feast. I drank mash with them. I found out everything and told you” ( 1. S. 26); “I recently visited them, drank honey-beer, talked to him, but I forgot to ask about something,” etc. ( 20 . P. 117. Cf., for example: 14 . S. 38; 28 . S. 67; 9 S. 26, 42; 21 . S. 89). Often the narrator emphasizes that he himself was an eyewitness to the events described: “and whoever last told this tale saw it all with his own eyes” ( 4. S. 95); “But at their death, I remained, the sage; and when I die, every story is over" ( 35 . P. 182), etc. This, in turn, confirms the authenticity of fairy-tale events - having been in another world, the narrator receives knowledge that he successfully passes on to listeners.

* * *

As you can see, both variants of the considered endings are built according to the fabulous-mythological model. In the endings of the “good journey”, the hero-narrator passes the test of food - he eats at a feast, drinks some liquid or bathes in it, as a result of which he overcomes the border, successfully being in a fairy tale locus. Having gained some knowledge, he comes back, sometimes doing similar operations, and transfers knowledge to people. The “unsuccessful path” variant is close to this model, but the hero's path is built in reverse (mirror) correspondence with respect to the first variant. The rules of behavior of a fairy-tale hero are violated, which entails a violation of the entire system - the situation is turned “upside down” with the introduction of ridicule, a playful context. The comic is directed at the figure of the hero-narrator who performs unsuccessful actions (he could not eat food, was kicked out, lost his gifts). It is interesting that in some variants of such endings, a buffoon (buffoon) attribute is mentioned - a cap: "... here they gave me a cap and pushed me out" ( 3. 250), “... put a cap on me and push me well” ( 3. 234), etc.; unlike other items, it does not disappear on the way back ( 3. 137, 234, 250, 292, 430, 576).

The comical elements inherent in the "unfortunate path" variant testify in favor of its later origin, along with other playful final formulas. The general goal of such endings is to return listeners to the space of the ordinary with laughter, to point out the unreality of the events described (See: 36 . S. 324-326; 19 . pp. 56-70; 5 . pp. 63-64; 35 . S. 182; 13 . pp. 12-14). At the same time, it seems that the endings of the “successful path” served as the basis for the creation of this version: with the change in the status of the tale, the narrators transformed the more archaic final formulas (“evidence of truthfulness”) into playful models (“evidence of unreliability”). The repertoire of storytellers now included both options (as different attitudes to the fairy tale coexist in post-archaic cultures), and in some cases the elements inherent in these models could overlap each other: “... honey saw, flowed on the lips, in the mouth it was sweet» ( 34 . P. 56), “… yummy was, only now sailed away»; etc. . Thus, the rudimentary structure of the classic fairy tale turned out to be laid down in both versions of the endings, which are different in their function.

Abbreviations:

1 - Abkhazian tales / Under. ed. R.G. Petrozashvili. Sukhumi, 1965.

2 – Alieva M.M. Uighur fairy tale. Alma-Ata, 1975.

3 – Afanasiev A.N. Folk Russian fairy tales: In 3 volumes / Resp. editors E.V. Pomerantseva, K.V. Chistov. M., 1984.

4 - Brothers Grimm. Tales / Per. G. Petnikova. Minsk, 1983.

5 – Vedernikova N.M. Russian folktale. M., 1975.

6 – Volkov R.M. Fairy tale: Research on the plot of a folk tale. T. 1. Odessa, 1924.

7 – Gerasimova N.M. Formulas of the Russian fairy tale (On the problem of stereotype and variability of traditional culture) // Soviet ethnography. No. 5. 1978.

8 - Georgian folk tales / Ed. ed. A.I. Aliyev. T. 2. M., 1988.

9 - Dagestan folk tales / Comp. N. Kapieva. M., 1957.

10 – Ivanov V.V. Top and bottom // Myths of the peoples of the world: Encyclopedia: In 2 volumes / Ch. ed. S.A. Tokarev. M., 1991. T. 1.

11 - Latvian fairy tales. Riga, 1957.

12 – Meletinsky E.M. Fairy tales and myths // Myths of the peoples of the world: Encyclopedia: In 2 volumes / Ch. ed. S.A. Tokarev. M., 1991. T. 2.

13 – Meletinsky E.M., Neklyudov S.Yu., Novak E.S., Segal D.M.. Problems of structural description of a fairy tale // Structure of a fairy tale. M., 2001.

14 – Novikov N.V. To the artistic specificity of the East Slavic fairy tale (initial and final formulas) // Reflection of interethnic processes in oral prose. M., 1979.

15 - Persian tales / Comp. M. N. Osmanov. M., 1987.

16 – Pomerantseva E.V. Russian folktale. M., 1963.

17 – Propp V.Ya. The historical roots of fairy tales. M., 1996.

18 – Razumova A.I. Stylistic imagery of the Russian fairy tale. Petrozavodsk, 1991.

19 – Roshiyan N. Traditional fairy tale formulas. M., 1974.

20 - Russian folk tales / Narrator A.N. Korolkova / Comp. and resp. ed. E.V. Pomerantsev. M., 1969.

21 - Tales of the Adyghe peoples / Comp., entry. article, note. A.I. Aliyeva. M., 1978.

22 - Tales of the Belozersk Territory / Recorded by B.M. and Yu.M. Sokolovs. Arkhangelsk, 1981.

23 - Tales of Verkhovyna. Transcarpathian Ukrainian folk tales. Uzhgorod, 1959.

24 - Tales of the green mountains, told by M.M. Galicia. Uzhgorod, 1966.

25 - Tales of the land of Ryazan / Underg. text, intro. article, note. and comm. VC. Sokolova. Ryazan, 1970.

26 - Tales of F.P. Gospodareva / Zap., entry. article, note. N.V. Novikov. Petrozavodsk, 1941.

27 - Tales and legends of the northern region / Zap., vst. article and comm. I.V. Karnaukhova. M.-L., 1934.

28 - Fairy tales and legends of the Chuvash. Cheboksary, 1963.

29 - Tales of Isfahan / Per. from Persian by E. Jaliashvili. M., 1968.

30 - Tales of M.M. Korgulin / Zap., Intro. article and comm. A.N. Nechaev. In 2 books. Book. 1. Petrozavodsk, 1939.

31 - Tales of M.M. Korgulin / Zap., Intro. article and comm. A.N. Nechaev. In 2 books. Book. 2. Petrozavodsk, 1939.

32 - Tales of the peoples of the Pamirs / Comp., per. and comment. A.L. Grunberg and I.M. Steblin-Kamensky. M., 1976.

33 – Suleimanov A.M. Bashkir folk household tales: Plot repertoire and poetics. M., 1994.

34 – Tumilevich F.V. Tales and legends of the Nekrasov Cossacks. Rostov-on-D., 1961.

35 – Uspensky B.A. Poetics of composition // Semiotics of art. M., 1995.

36 – Pop M. Die Funktion der Anfangs- und SchluYformeln im rumänischen Märchen // Volksüberlieferung. Göttingen, 1968.

Separate elements of the “bad luck” endings can be traced in the playful final formulas, which do not talk about a feast, but mention the way to the wedding, disappearing objects, flight, and there is also a food motif. See for example: 3 . S. 146; 11 . S. 377.

It is noteworthy that the role of professional storytellers in medieval Russia was performed by buffoons; this, in turn, is associated with a variety of playful endings in the repertoire of East Slavic storytellers. Cm.: 19 . S. 74; 33 . S. 202.

25 . S. 82; cf.: S. 43. Cf. also options in which a "successful" feast is combined with the loss of gifts: 21 . S. 207; and etc.

One of the key motifs of a fairy tale is the hero's journey to the "far away kingdom" - the afterlife. Such a construction is three-part: 1 - the road to another world and crossing the border from the world of the living to the world of the dead, 2 - "adventures" in the world of the dead and 3 - the road back and the reverse border crossing. Complex compositions are somehow based on this model, in many ways coming out of it...

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D. Antonov
Fairy Tales Endings: An Attempted Reading

The question we are considering in this article is rather unusual: these are the endings of fairy tales. As you know, different types of endings perform certain functions: a witty ending to a fairy tale, creating a happy ending, etc. The field of our research lies in a different area: we will be interested in very specific endings that carry information that is not amenable to a "simple" explanation. Such endings are not so often singled out from the general mass, although their number and diversity, complexity and prevalence in the world do not allow them to be recognized as a private and insignificant element. Let's start with the traditional classification.

The endings of the first type, perhaps, can best be described as story endings. These are endings with an internal focus, they are connected with the context of the fairy tale and are part of its structure. Their goal is to create a happy ending as an important fairy-tale element. In most cases, such endings are rhymed ("and they began to live, live and make good"). In some cases, there is no rhyme ("began to live and be and chew bread", "they lived long and merrily", "and they all lived happily ever after", etc.). They meet most often.

Endings of the second type are often called joke endings. They are not connected with the context, the plot of the fairy tale (or the connection is conditional), but they are one of the components of the process of telling a fairy tale, a dialogue between the narrator and listeners. They are determined by purely external factors associated with this dialogue. When there is no connection, the endings, as a rule, contain a playful demand for a reward for the story ("here are those (for you, you) a fairy tale, and for me a glass of butter", "here is a fairy tale for you, and a bunch of bagels for me", "that fairy tale ends , and I need vodka Korets ", etc.). In other cases, a conditional connection with the context exists, and the endings are built according to the following model: when some action started in the fairy tale is completed, then it will continue (“when<...>(the hero of the fairy tale - D.A.) wakes up, then the fairy tale will begin", "when the porridge is cooked, then the fairy tale will last", etc.) This also includes another model of endings: a short "saying", the purpose of which is rhyme a word, most often "the end" ("they had a puddle in the yard, and there was a pike in it, and there was a fire in the pike; this tale is over"; "... she herself is joy, in her eyes - affection. Here the feast began, and the fairy tale ended" / Af.567 / etc.). The finished fairy tale flows into a rhyme, pursuing the goal of conveying in a rhymed form the idea that the fairy tale is completed.

Moralistic conclusions and conspiracy formulas can serve as endings - rather independent elements, more or less connected with the context of the tale itself (sometimes the connection is completely absent). This is the traditional division (1).

A slightly different series of endings that are of interest to us in the framework of this work are often considered among the jokes. In many cases, they are also rhymed and in form approach the type considered above. One of the shortest models of such endings is best known: "And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth." However, along with this popular fairy-tale formula, there are often whole "stories" with rather specific information contained in them. In these endings, the narrator's story continues about the events that happened to him at the feast and after it. A huge variety of such endings is united by a common feature - the introduction of the first person and their content - the narrator's narrative about certain events that happened to him. Traditionally, their function is defined as emphasizing the unreality of everything told, introducing comic into the narration, "depressurizing the atmosphere" (2). Such endings, however, have a number of important distinguishing features that do not allow them to be classified as jokes and force them to be distinguished into a separate, completely special type. The selection of this type of endings seems to us not a particular issue of classification, but the identification for the study of a new, little touched upon earlier, information field.

An important (and, in our opinion, identifying) feature of the third type of endings is noted by E.M. Meletinsky: this is the similarity of the elements of the latter with certain elements of the fairy tales themselves, the proximity of their construction to the construction of certain mythological motifs (3). In this study, we are going to attempt to consider and analyze the plots that underlie the endings of the third type.

I. OPTION OF THE "UNSUCCESSFUL PATH"

1. "And I was there." The first statement of the narrator in our endings is that he was present in the place described and was an eyewitness to the final events of his own tale. In most cases, this is said directly, or, more rarely, indirectly (“I barely brought my legs home from that feast” (4), etc. - “I was there” is omitted, but implied). This information is necessary, since everything that follows is built in accordance with it. Most often, this phrase is followed by a further story, but, as you can see, it is quite self-sufficient and can be used without any additions. This is a kind of statement of truthfulness, indicating that the narrator is an eyewitness and a kind of protagonist of the tale. He is present at the feast of the hero, further adventures take place with him. What could this mean?

One of the key motifs of a fairy tale is the hero's journey to the "far away kingdom" - the afterlife. Such a construction is three-part: 1 - the road to another world and crossing the border from the world of the living to the world of the dead, 2 - "adventures" in the world of the dead and 3 - the road back and the reverse border crossing. Complex compositions are based in one way or another on this model, largely coming out of it. There is no need to dwell on this in more detail now, since we have a different goal: to find out whether it is possible and legitimate to correlate this model with the plot of the endings we are interested in, and what kind of picture will be obtained if such a parallel is drawn. Having adopted this approach, we will see that what happens to our hero at the final fairy tale feast is built according to models that localize this place in a rather interesting - borderline way.

2. Inedible treat. Once at the "feast", the hero-narrator, first of all, talks about food. He drinks mead-beer, eats cabbage, and so on. However, oddly enough, all his attempts to eat something are fruitless. The food just doesn't go into the mouth. Apart from the will of the hero (and perhaps in accordance with it), he does not eat a single piece of food offered to him where he goes. It is described in different ways. “And I was there, I drank honey-beer, it flowed down my mustache, but it didn’t get into my mouth” - a model, in various modifications, the most common in Russian fairy tales (5). However, "honey-beer" (honey-wine, honey) is by no means the only treat that the hero does not eat; there are also such: "I was there, slurping an ear together, it flowed down my mustache, it didn't get into my mouth" /Af.81/, "I slurped kutya with a big spoon, it flowed down my beard - it didn't get into my mouth!" /Af.207/, "Beluzhins filed - remained without supper" /Af.124/. In addition, other forms are used to express that it was impossible for the hero to eat something at a mysterious feast: "to whom they brought it with a ladle, but for me with a sieve" /Af.322/, etc.

The idea that the food at the feast of the heroes of a fairy tale is something special, not suitable for eating people, is one of the most important. Her expressions can be completely different: "... they called me to him to drink honey-beer, but I didn’t go: honey, they say, was bitter, and beer was cloudy. Why such a parable?" /Af.151/ and others /my italics. - YES./. There is one more important detail in the last ending: it is not rhymed, the idea is "naked". The traditional formula: "I ate and drank, it ran down my beard, but it didn't get into my mouth" is also found in Latvian fairy tales (6). Let's try to analyze this motive. What is food that cannot be eaten? As you know, food is extremely important during the transition from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead. The food of the dead has some magical properties and is dangerous to the living. "...We see that, having stepped over the threshold of this world, first of all you need to eat and drink," writes V.Ya. Propp (7). "Having joined the food intended for the dead, the stranger finally joins the world of the dead. Hence the prohibition of touching this food for the living." "In the American tale, the hero sometimes only pretends to eat, but actually throws this dangerous food on the ground," he continues (8). This motif is close to the situation described by our narrator. The fact that he cannot eat anything, although he tries, does not at all contradict this idea. It is likely that here the "inedible" (i.e., unfit for food, dangerous) for the living food of the dead turns into food that cannot be eaten. The described food often really seems unsuitable - it is said about bitter honey and cloudy beer, there are also similar descriptions: "... Here they treated me: they took the pelvis from the bull and poured milk; then they gave a kalach, helping in the same pelvis. I did not drink did not eat..." /Af.137/. Here we clearly see the hero's reluctance to eat the offered food because it seems to him unpleasant and inedible - all the details are designed to reinforce this image. The hero of Russian fairy tales himself asks for the food of the dead from Yagi and eats it, thereby passing into the world of the dead, which he strives for. Then he nevertheless finds his way back, and he manages to return, although the way back is often fraught with great dangers - he succeeds in doing this, since in the world of the dead the hero acquires magical abilities (which is often expressed in the acquisition of magic items or helpers) (9) . With the hero-narrator, something else happens. He gets to a feast, where all the treats are "inedible" for him. If we assume that this element is correlated with the fabulous motif of the food of the dead, we must admit that the position of our hero is localized by the border of the worlds. In order to go further, it is necessary to taste the food of the dead, which means for him to finally join the afterlife. Unlike the hero of a fairy tale, the hero-narrator does not do this. In accordance with the fabulous-mythological laws, the border in this case cannot be overcome. Let's see if other elements of the endings correspond to this situation.

3. Exile. So, having got into the same situation as the fairy-tale hero, the hero-narrator behaves differently. Because of this, his entire future path is unlike the path of a hero. Often the narrator ends the ending with the message that, having been at the feast, he did not eat anything, however, in more complete versions of the tales, a description of further events follows. The exile that follows the refusal is not motivated by anything in the endings and, it would seem, does not follow at all from what was said earlier. At Afanasiev we meet the following examples: “I was at that wedding, I was drinking wine, it was flowing down my mustache, there was no mouth. /, get out of the yard as soon as possible"" /Af.234/, "... I did not drink, did not eat, I decided to wipe myself off, they began to fight with me; I put on a cap, they began to push me in the neck!" /Af.137/ /my italics. - D.A. /, "And I was there, drinking wine and beer, it was flowing down my lips, but it didn’t get into my mouth; then they gave me a cap and pushed me out; I resisted, but got out" / Af.250 / etc. Here one can clearly feel the connection of exile with the fact that the narrator "had nothing in his mouth" from the offered food. We see the same thing in a slightly different ending - in a fairy tale told by A.N. Korolkova: “A feast was set for the whole world. And I was there. Instead of beer, they brought me milk (another form of expression for the “inedibility” of food. - D.A.). They took me by the sides, began to knead me, and I began to laugh. I didn’t drink, they started to beat me. I began to resist, they started to fight. It was a scandalous feast at which I was "(10) / my italics. - YES./.

There are endings that also testify to the desire of the hero-narrator to penetrate into the world that he spoke about in the fairy tale and the failure of this attempt: “Then I wanted to see the prince and princess, but they began to shove from the yard; I sniffed into the gateway - I knocked my whole back! " /Af.313/. Here the main reason that the narrator's hero failed to penetrate into the "yard" (kingdom, world) where his heroes live (refusal of food) is omitted, but the desire and subsequent failure are clearly expressed. So far, all the analyzed facts do not contradict our theory about the construction of the plot of these endings in accordance with fairy-tale and mythological motives. However, the endings of the third type contain many more facts that require analysis.

4. Flight. We are approaching the consideration of a whole series of facts that form a certain block - one of the most important elements of the endings of a fairy tale. The first piece of information to consider is the mysterious items the hero receives. The narrator receives these things from those present at the feast. In this case, the motive of exile is most often omitted. An example is the following endings: "... they gave me a blue caftan, a crow flies and shouts:" Blue caftan! Blue caftan!" I think: "Throw off the caftan!" - he took it and threw it off. They gave me a cap, they began to push me in the neck. Red shoes!" I think: "I stole the shoes!" - took it and threw it" /Af.292/, "... they gave me a cap, but they started pushing; they gave me a caftan, I go home, and the titmouse flies and says: “The blue is good!” I thought: “Throw it off and put it down!” I took it off, and put it down ... / Af.430 / etc. So the hero gets some things. This is a reminder that the guardian of the border (Yaga) can become a giver. In the case when, of his own free will, through food, washing in the bath, the hero joins the world of the dead, the guard-donor gives him magic items (an analogue of the acquired magical abilities). Is it possible to assume in this case that here we are dealing with a different version of the development of the plot, when the hero-narrator is not expelled, but is recognized as his own and receives some gifts in the world of the dead? If this is so, then these two plots are quite strongly superimposed on each other. In the examples above, we see both the refusal of food, and the receipt of gifts, and (in one of the cases) an element inherent in exile ("began to push"). Why is there a violation of internal logic in this kind of endings? Does it occur at all, or are there other laws that we have not yet understood? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to study the motive that interests us in more detail.

Turning to world folklore, we can confidently assert the following thing: in the endings of the third type, there are indeed two options for the path of the hero-narrator. We considered the first option in the previous section: the hero wants to enter the world of the dead, he must pass the test of food, but does not pass this test and is expelled. But, what is most interesting, this first variant is characteristic of the East Slavic material! Other ethnic groups, peoples practically do not know the unfortunate hero who did not overcome the trials and was forced to return halfway. This is a characteristic feature of East Slavic fairy tales, and it seems all the more interesting; that is why this section is based on Russian material. In the fairy tales of Europe, Persia, Abkhazia, Dagestan, which have extensive endings, the picture looks different: there are no elements of failure, exile, and the path of the hero-narrator has a completed form, close to the classical fairy-tale model. Here we are interested in the fact that the combination of seemingly incompatible elements in the endings of Russian fairy tales somehow turns out to be connected with the existence of "unfortunate" and "successful" versions of the hero's path.

In world folklore, there are several motives for acquiring magical items in the world of the dead: 1- the hero receives a magical item and brings it to the world of the living - the most famous motive, the roots of which are investigated by V.Ya. Propp, 2- the hero receives a magical item, but on the way back he somehow loses it - the roots of the motive go back to the myths of the loss of immortality and 3- the hero receives a magic item and leaves it on the road (throws it back) to escape the chase. From thrown objects, mountains, forests, etc. appear. - that is, here we are dealing with a reflection of the myth about the order of the world. Thus, we see that there are three options for the development of the plot of obtaining magical items in the world of the dead. In the Russian fairy tales themselves, the first and third plots are common. What might our endings be related to? After analyzing all the facts, we come to a somewhat unexpected conclusion: they are based on the first option - without loss - in accordance with which the endings of the "successful" path are found. We will turn to the question of the origin and semantics of the "unsuccessful path" option at the end of the work; classic fairy tale. The magical flight is not here the prototype of the fairy-tale chase motif. In our opinion, we are not dealing with variants of protection or abduction, but with a distorted version of the acquisition plot.

5. Received items. Now it is time to turn to the consideration of the objects themselves, received by the hero-narrator and lost along the way. These items can be divided into two groups. The first is the things the hero receives in the variant of the endings, when the motive of loss is connected with the motive of receiving, which is preceded by both a feast and exile. The second group - things that the hero "loses" in another variant of the endings, when the motive for obtaining is present on its own. In the latter case, it is subject to a fairly strong transformation. The first group, as can be seen from the examples given above, mainly includes items of clothing: shoes, shlyk, caftan, cap. Of the signs that characterize these things, their colors are quite stable: red and, especially often, blue. If the first color can be interpreted in the meaning of "beautiful", or simply reduce its use to the need to draw a parallel "red - stolen", then the blue color may have more meaning. Blue is used in the meaning of black, its etymology can also go back to the concept of "shining, luminous". In both cases (and especially in the second), the connection of this color with the world of the dead is quite stable. In folklore, what came out of the other world often turns out not only to be golden (=shining), black or white, but also blue. (See, for example, the similar use of blue in Scandinavian folklore) (11). At this stage, this is all that can be said about the gifts received.

Let us now turn to the consideration of the second group of objects. They are presented in the endings of a different plan, examples of which we have given above. The emphasis here is on the loss of things; In addition, there are two distinctive features: 1 - the motive for obtaining things is absent, 2 - the things described are already of a slightly different kind than in the first group. "I also had a nag, wax shoulders, a pea lash. I see: the peasant's barn is on fire; I put the nag, went to pour the barn. While the barn was pouring, the nag melted, the crows pecked at the lash." /Aph.146/ is a typical example of such endings. Although the memory of the origin of things in this ending is not preserved (unlike the first group, where the motive of receiving is preserved; the loss follows the description of the feast and exile), in its last part we see a preserved "trace" from the earlier motives of exile and flight: "... I had a shlyk (transformation from "they gave me a shlyk" - D.A.), sniffed under the collar, and knocked the little ring off, and now it hurts. That's the end of the fairy tale!" /Af.146/. This element testifies to the origin of this version of the endings from the same original model, where things are obtained in the realm of the dead (hence the poorly preserved motives of exile and flight with the loss of things). The Latvian example is also very indicative. In it, the hero-narrator is invited to the wedding. He buys and makes his own clothes, but, oddly enough, these clothes are made from various foods (he made boots from pancakes, bought two sugar horses and a gingerbread cart...). On the way from rain, sun, etc., all objects melt, get wet and, as a result, disappear. The hero is left with nothing (12). How to evaluate such endings? We see that here the motive for the loss is presented separately. It has already been said above that the variant of the "unsuccessful path" is built with a certain violation of logic. The "attachment" of the motive of gifts was quite artificial, which could affect its subsequent separation from the motives of food, exile, and flight. Obtaining objects is comprehended already in this world ("gave me" is replaced by "I had", or the hero talks about buying things or making them). Accordingly, the path from the "feast" is replaced by the path "to the feast" - objects disappear on the way not back, but there. Knowing the original version, one can get an explanation of why the narrator tells about some strange things that disappear from him so that he is left with "nothing". This is evidenced by the preservation of the elements of the chase and the very description of things. It is also, for the most part, items of clothing - a hat, caftan, pants, etc. However, this time they turn out to be made from different foods. This can be explained through the transformation of the motive of not overcoming the test of food, the memory of which is preserved in such an unusual form in such endings. By itself, this motive in the endings emphasizes the fragility, unreliability of the material - the non-functionality of things ("nag, wax shoulders", "pea lash" (13), etc.). All this explains to the listeners the reason for the disappearance of things in a different way: they are not left by the narrator himself due to a "misunderstanding", but disappear because of their fragility, inability to adapt to reality.

These are the main elements that make up the motive for obtaining magic items by the hero-narrator. One thing is common for various modifications: no matter what happens to our hero, he loses all the things he brought from the border of the kingdom of the dead, where he could not get. The explanation of this paradox, as well as the whole situation with losses and unsuccessful attempts to cross the border, lies in the study of the roots of the "bad path" option.

6. Option "bad path". Let's summarize what has been said. We have considered the following elements of the third type of endings: 1 - the statement of the narrator that he was where the characters he describes are. Almost all endings begin with this statement. The study of further elements localized the place of which the narrator speaks, defining it as the border with the realm of the dead. 2 - the story of the hero that, having got there, he had to eat some food. 3 - characterization of food as tasteless, practically inedible, with subsequent transformation into one that cannot be eaten. 4 - refusal of the hero from food (in the case of the indicated transformation - the inability to eat it). 5 - a consequence of refusal - expulsion from the place where the hero ends up; sometimes the expulsion is described with the omission of the reason - the refusal of food, in which case it is enhanced by the fact that it is impossible to go further. 6 - a somewhat isolated motive for receiving gifts and then losing them on the way back. All of these are elements of the "unfortunate path" variant presented primarily in the endings of Russian fairy tales. The variant of the "bad path" is the path of a hero who has not passed the test of the food of the dead, expelled from the border, not allowed further into the realm of the dead. The description of this path is built on the basis of the classical fairy-tale-mythological motif of the border. At the same time, the traditionally defined function of these endings as an indication of unreality in the discursive aspect is not rejected by us - their use for this purpose and the creation of additional elements subordinated exclusively to this goal do take place. However, the construction of this type of endings, which preserves traces of effective fabulous-mythological models, "mirror" transformed in relation to the fairy tale, is, from our point of view, the most important feature that determines their meaning. What is the genesis of the “unsuccessful path” option, how can one determine the time of its occurrence, and what causes the violation of internal logic noted by us with the gain / loss of things following the expulsion - questions that we will try to answer when considering the “successful path” option.

II. OPTION "GOOD WAY"

Here we begin to consider a different plot of the endings of fairy tales - a variant of the "successful path" and an analysis of its constituent elements.

The border. The motive of being tested by food is also present in the variant of the "successful journey", but here the hero-narrator acts "correctly" (in accordance with the fairy-tale model). "I myself was visiting him. Braga drank, ate halva!" (14), "I walked at their wedding and still can't forget about it!" (15), - says in the fairy tales of Dagestan. "They arranged a rich wedding. And they gave me a good drink, and now they live in happiness and prosperity" (16), etc. There are such examples in Russian fairy tales: "I was there recently, I drank honey-beer, I bathed in milk, wiped myself hollow", "I recently visited them, I drank honey-beer ..." (17), etc. However, the test food is by no means the only transitional element. The motive of the border in the "successful" version is presented quite widely. This happens because the hero needs to cross the border twice. Often it is the motive of return that is noted in the ending. The border is present in the endings and latently - through a certain contrast between the realm of the dead and the world of the living.

The motif of the border is quite fully expressed in Persian fairy tales. One of the most characteristic examples: "We went up - we found yogurt, and considered the fairy tale to be our truth. We returned down, plunged into whey, and our fairy tale turned into a fable" (18). Such endings contain a fairly large information field. It contains three important elements: the opposition 1 - "milk - whey (yogurt)", 2 - "top - bottom", and 3 - "true - fiction".

A. "Milk is whey". When considering this element, we are faced with very interesting motives - the hero drinking milk and whey, or bathing there. Let us first consider the first option, which is also known to Russian fairy tales (“I was there recently, drank honey-beer, bathed in milk, wiped myself with hollow” (19), “I recently visited them, drank honey-beer, bathed in milk, wiped myself with hollow "(20), etc.). The motif of bathing in milk is known in folklore; both the hero and the old king bathe in milk. Bathing in milk transforms the hero. Having studied this motive, V.Ya. Propp comes to the conclusion that it is connected with the passage of the hero through the animal. It makes you look at the story in a completely different way. “We are thus forced to conclude that the transfiguration, the apotheosis of the hero is the basis of this motif,” he writes, “the motif of the death of the old king is artificially attached to it.

That one who has arrived in the realm of the dead is undergoing a transformation is known, and we have a reflection of this idea here too "(21) - he finishes /italics mine. - D.A./. The motif of bathing in milk is associated with the idea of ​​the transformation of the hero upon entering realm of the dead.Liquids are usually of two types - milk and water (22), (milk and whey, curdled milk in our endings).This element correlates with the transformation when crossing the border from the world of the living to the world of the dead and vice versa.

"They hurried upstairs - they drank whey, went downstairs - they ate yogurt, our fairy tale became a reality" (23) - says the narrator in a Persian fairy tale. This motif could be attributed to the transformation of the same bathing in milk (a similar transformation is, apparently, the "finding" of the hero-narrator of milk and whey on the way). Perhaps this is true, but here it is impossible not to put forward an assumption about the connection between the two drunk (and antagonistic) liquids with the motif of "living and dead" ("strong and weak") water. Let us turn to the analysis of this motif by V.Ya.Propp. "... I assume that "living and dead water" and "weak and strong water" are one and the same<...>A dead man who wants to go to another world uses only water. A living person who wants to get there also uses only one. A person who has set foot on the path of death and wants to return to life uses both types of water "(24), - writes Propp / my italics. - D.A. /. Situations in which these motives are used in the endings also correlate with the passage of the hero to the realm of the dead and return to the world of the living with the consistent use of two types of liquids, antagonistic by definition (milk/whey, curdled milk).

B. "Top - bottom." The concepts of "top" and "bottom" are directly related in the endings to the opposition of "milk" and "whey" - respectively, if we draw the same parallels, the concepts of "top" and "bottom" are also directly related to the transition from the world of the dead to the world of the living and back. As you know, the opposition of top and bottom is one of the most important mythological elements, corresponding to ideas about the structure of the world. The binary system "top - bottom" separates and unites the world of the living and the other world. It is the "two-term" picture of the world that is original, but it has the ability to "turn over", i.e. one concept - "up" or "down" - can mean either the kingdom of the dead, or the world of the living (25). This may explain the inconstancy of the concepts of "top and bottom" in the endings - their meaning does indeed interchange. One way or another, the concepts of "top" and "bottom" are directly related to the concepts of the world of the dead and the world of the living. We get the following picture: the hero goes on a journey, bathes in milk or drinks some liquid, as a result he crosses the line between "top" and "bottom", then he returns, doing the same operations ["hurried upstairs - they drank the serum, went down - sour milk ate ... "(26)]. This system clearly correlates with the motif of crossing the border between the realm of the dead and the world of the living.

V. "False - fiction." The last of the highlighted oppositions is the opposition "were/were not". Here the motif of the border manifests itself, perhaps most difficultly, through the category of reality. What is real for the world of the dead is obviously unreal for the world of the living; among the living, the laws of the kingdom of the dead do not apply. The narrator seems to emphasize that, having crossed the border, he finds himself in a different reality, where other laws apply.

In accordance with this, the attitude to the story changes. Here are the most illustrative examples from Persian fairy tales, containing all three motifs: “We went upstairs - we found yogurt, and considered our fairy tale to be true. We returned downstairs - we plunged into whey, and our fairy tale turned into a fable” (28) / my italics. - YES./; “And we went downstairs - we found yogurt, we ran along the upper path - we saw the whey, they called our fairy tale a fable. "How we went up - we found yogurt, how we went down - we found whey: our fairy tale turned into a fable. How we went up - we found a fable, how we ran down - we found yogurt: our fairy tale turned out to be true" (29). A differentiated attitude to what is told on different sides of the line crossed by the hero is drawn along the line of true story / fiction. Accordingly, in some way there is a statement that the fairy tale is a reality on the other side of the border. This option is also interesting: "This fairy tale is ours - a true story, if you go up - you will find yogurt, if you go down - you will find yogurt, and in our fairy tale you will find the truth" (30) / my italics. - YES./. In accordance with this, in order to discover the truth in what was told, it is necessary to cross the border of worlds where other laws apply (compare with the reference to the myth along the line of true / false in the Abkhaz fairy tale: "I told you a true story, similar to fiction. If you ask me: Is it true or false? - I will answer: if the legend is true, it is also true "(31) /my italics. - D.A./.

Finally, the motive of transition-return is very widely represented. In the end of the Latvian fairy tale, referring to the "bad path" variant, the soldiers shoot the hero from a cannon where he climbed to escape the rain. The last phrase is typical for many endings: "so I flew in this direction, exactly in our parish" (32). We see the same in the ending of the Abkhazian fairy tale: "Now I have come from there and found myself among you" (33) /my italics - D.A./.

There are a huge number of such examples - the narrator claims his appearance among the listeners, in a given area, state, etc. as what happened after moving across the border, which can be expressed in various ways (flight, bridge crossing, etc.) and is typical for both endings. Further, we learn that the hero-narrator conveys to people the knowledge he has received ("I found out about everything and told you" (34), etc.). In addition, the narrator can separately report that he himself is an eyewitness of what was told: “and whoever last told this tale saw it all with his own eyes” (35), says one of the tales of the Brothers Grimm; “and at their death I, the sage, remained, and when I die, every fairy tale ends” (36), etc. Thus, the motive for moving in many cases turns out to be associated with the assertion of the authenticity of what is told.

Here we can catch some hints of gaining knowledge as the goal of overcoming the border by the hero-narrator ("I recently visited them, drank honey-beer, talked to him, but I forgot to ask about something" (37) - reported in a Russian fairy tale; " I was also at this feast. I drank brew with them. I found out about everything and told you "(38) - says the narrator of Dagestan, etc.). In one of the Dagestan fairy tales we come across a very curious example: "I was at that feast, dancing like a bear, and then I left the people to sing and have fun, and I myself ran to small children to tell them this tale" (39). Two motives are manifested here: the desire to convey the acquired knowledge and the clearly ritual "bear dance".

We conclude our consideration of one of the key motives for the endings of fairy tales - the border. Its transition is the most important stage in the path of the hero-narrator, and often the attention in the ending is focused on it. The reverse border crossing is a separate motif that has its own ways of expression (40).

III CONCLUSION

Having briefly reviewed our material, we see a whole complex of mythological constructions that lie in the structure of the group of endings we have considered. Our goal here was to illustrate the very fact of structural constructions developing according to mythological models inherent in a fairy tale. The variant of the endings of the "successful path" contains the narration of the hero-narrator, which is built in accordance with the fairy-tale model. The hero passes the test with food, bathes in milk or drinks some liquid, as a result of which he overcomes the border, enters the realm of the dead. Here he can acquire magical knowledge (bear dances, etc.), or some objects (in a fairy tale - an analogue of the acquired abilities). After that, he returns to the world of the living and passes on to people the knowledge he has received - first of all, these are the same fairy tales. This is the outline of the endings of the "successful path" option. The very phenomenon of constructing the final formula according to the fairy-tale-mythological model seems to be an interesting fact - its presence as such (as a self-sufficient element) was not noted in the studies of fairy tale formulas; the functions and genesis of this type of endings is an unexamined issue. We see a kind of transfer of fairy-tale models to the final formula, which receives various types of expression.

Another type of ending is the "bad path" variant. While the endings discussed above can be characterized as copying - the laws of construction correspond to fairy-tale mythological models - the construction of the endings of the "unfortunate path" turns out to be mirror, inverse to this option.

First of all, we see that the development of the plot of the "bad path" endings takes place in accordance with and on the basis of the same fairy-tale-mythological models that underlie the "successful path" variant. However, the rules of the hero's behavior are violated, which entails a violation of the entire system - the situation is turned "upside down" with the introduction of ridicule, elements of buffoonery; speech is always rhythmic and rhyming. The traditional consideration of these endings defines their function as a statement of the unreality of what is told by demonstrating the unreality of the described situation (feast). However, another hypothesis arises regarding the semantics of the "bad path" endings. On the basis of the material of Russian fairy tales we have examined, an element of buffoonery becomes visible, which becomes the defining imperative of these endings. The mockery is directed not so much at the situation itself as at the figure of the hero-narrator. Laughter is caused primarily by the description of the hero - the actions performed by him and over him: “it flowed down his mustache, it didn’t hit his mouth”, “they began to push him in the neck”, “sniffing into the doorway - but he knocked the wheel off and now it hurts” / Af.146 / etc. In the hero's description of himself, there is clearly some "deprecation", ironic self-abasement. As we remember, the hero of the "bad path" option gets a lot of things, but loses everything along the way, which happens because of his "stupidity", "bad luck", etc. This element seems to be important as well as the idea of ​​the non-functionality of the objects received and the unreality of what is described - the presence of elements of buffoonery does not refute the role of this type of ending as indicating the unreality of what is told, but introduces a different aspect of consideration. The characteristically clownish way of describing himself as a narrator makes one suggest that the endings of the "unfortunate path" originated later, that they originated from the endings of the first version, developing according to the correct fairy-tale-mythological model. In favor of this assumption is already the fact noted during the study that the elements of the endings of the "unfortunate path" are a direct transcription of the elements of the classic fairy tale version underlying the endings of the "successful path", with the loss of a logical outline (receiving gifts occurs after exile and not justified by nothing else than the need to use this element with a minus sign, in an "inverted state" - the logic is based not on a consistent outline of what is being told, but on the need to introduce an element of negation into all components of the original version). In such a case, we may be dealing with a reworking of the "good luck" ending with an underlying imperative of buffoonery. It is characteristic here that the endings of the "unfortunate path" are inherent primarily in Slavic material, are most common in Russian fairy tales, while the latter (which is important) also contain variants of the "successful path".

In a comic context, the narrator tells about the loss of all received things, however, there are also non-disappearing objects that rhyme with a verb. The most common of these is the cap. Examples are typical and numerous: "And I was there, drinking wine and beer, it was flowing down my lips, but it didn’t get into my mouth; then they gave me a cap and pushed me out; I resisted and got out" / Af.250 / / my italics . – D.A./, “I was at that wedding too, I drank wine, it flowed down my mustache, there was no mouth. (41).

Such a wide use of the cap in the structure of the endings also makes one think about the possibility of the influence of the medieval cultural layer. "Reversing" reality is a fundamental element of buffoonery; here there is a complete change of signs in the semiotic system (42). Also characteristic is the specific self-abasement, the comic humiliation of the narrator. These elements, characteristic of the endings of the "bad path" variant, fully correspond to the traditions of buffoonery, and, first of all, to the ancient Russian laughter culture (43). The consistent reworking of the elements of the endings of the "successful path", developing according to the fairy-tale-mythological model, really corresponds to the laws of this cultural environment. If this is so, then the function of indicating unreality turns out to be in a certain sense secondary - not fundamental, but concomitant. The medieval origin of the endings of the "bad path" on the basis of initially copying, in accordance with the emergence of a new category of storytellers, introducing elements of a different cultural environment, seems at this stage one of the possible options. These are the main provisions of our proposed hypothesis.

Abbreviations
Af. – Afanasiev A.N. Folk Russian fairy tales: In 3 volumes / Resp. editors E.V. Pomerantseva,
K.V. Chistov. – M.: Nauka, 1984.

In cartoons, the ending is always very easy to predict: there will be a happy ending, everyone will get married and have many children. But did you know that in real stories, the ending is sometimes very different from the story in cartoons. Therefore, today the site will tell you true endings of famous Disney movies that will ruin your childhood.

1 Pocahontas

Pocahontas in the version, Disney meets with the English captain John Smith, who has sailed to America for gold. They fall in love, but as a result, Smith dies and another Englishman, John Rolfe, takes his place, with whom Pocahontas travels to England. There they experience various adventures, meet the living John Smith, but the Indian princess no longer loves him and eventually sails back to America with Rolf. It seems to be a happy ending, but in reality it was not so. This is a true story and Pocahontas really existed. But only she did not voluntarily go to England, but captured by the colonists. Her father bought her and she married Rolf in her homeland. Then they returned to England, where she became very popular. But in the end she died at the age of 22, contracting smallpox on her way to Virginia. Not a happy ending at all.

2. Rapunzel

Disney story of rapunzel is also very different from the original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. In the cartoon, a thief named Flynn Rider rescues her from a tower from an evil witch and returns her to her parents. Then a wedding, kids and a happy life. But in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm the story is more complex and unfortunate. Not only did the witch not steal the girl, but exchanged her from her parents for leaves from a bush called Rapunzel, even after the prince enters the tower to Rapunzel, she later becomes pregnant with twins and this at the age of 12. The witch finds out about it. She cuts the girl's hair and sends her to the desert, and the prince is blinded. As a result, he is found by the already born children of Rapunzel wandering in the forest and completely blind. Rapunzel heals him with magical tears and they travel to the prince's kingdom. Write in the comments which version you like best. I, probably, the second, almost a thriller turned out.

3. Mermaid

Good thing Disney got a makeover. the story of the little mermaid, and then the original is terrifying. Hans Christian Andersen made the ending a little different. The Prince didn't like the Little Mermaid at all and married a princess from a neighboring kingdom. But Ariel had already traded her voice for legs, her time to receive the kiss of love was expiring and therefore she had to die. To be saved she had to kill the prince sleeping with his bride, and pour his blood on your feet. But she didn't and died. Her body turned into sea foam, and then the Little Mermaid became the daughter of air and gained an immortal soul. Kind of sad..

4. Cinderella

Cinderella- a very beautiful and kind fairy tale, but not in the version of the Brothers Grimm. In it, to put on the cherished shoe, older sister cuts off her thumb and her whole shoe is in the blood, and the middle one - the heel. But this does not help them and the prince marries Cinderella. But then during the wedding, dear kind Birds peck out the eyes of stepsisters and leave them blind for life. How do you like this plot?

5 Sleeping Beauty

The original fairy tale about Sleeping Beauty is just tin! After the girl was pricked with a spindle, she fell into hibernation. This is what we all remember. The original fairy tale by the author Giambattista Basile tells how the king, having arrived, took advantage of the insane state of the Sleeping Beauty and took over her body. Girl without regaining consciousness became pregnant and after the due date gave birth to twins. She gave birth to a boy and a girl, who lay next to her and sucked her breasts. It is not known how long this would have continued if one day the boy had not lost his mother's breast and had not begun to suck her finger - the same one pricked with a spindle. And sucked out the thorn. The thorn popped out, and the princess woke up to find herself in an abandoned house all alone, except for the lovely babies who came from nowhere. Briefly speaking, not a kiss woke the sleeping beauty from sleep.

Write in the comments which story is the toughest and which one should have been filmed instead of the good Disney cartoons.

Incredible Facts

Perhaps many will be quite surprised to learn that some of the Disney cartoons that have been so hugely popular among children for several generations, in fact, initially based by no means on good and positive stories.

It may be shocking, but the basis of these very stories were violence, murders, cannibalism and other chilling events.

Original versions of fairy tales

It is generally accepted that Disney, by changing the original versions of fairy tales, made them kind and pleasant, and therefore more accessible to the general public. However, there are those who accuses Disney of unfairly misrepresenting the original stories.

Some, the very first versions of fairy tales, became known to us thanks to the Internet and discussions on various forums. However, there are many Disney stories that actually look different, and we don’t even know. about the "substitution" of the plot.

Below are examples of lesser-known versions of popular cartoons that have grown up with more than one generation of young viewers.

Pinocchio Disney

1. Pinocchio: corpses and murder

Original version: Pinocchio becomes a murderer, and in the end he dies

In the very first version of the tale, Pinocchio was punished by death for his disobedience. wooden boy ruthless in relation to old Geppetto and constantly teases him. The old man begins to pursue Pinocchio and ends up in prison for allegedly offending the boy.

Pinocchio returns home, where he meets a hundred-year-old cricket, who tells him that naughty children turn into donkeys. However, the wooden boy, not wanting to listen to wise advice, in a fit of anger, he throws a hammer at the cricket and kills him.

Pinocchio ends his life by burning in a fire. Before he dies, he sees the same fairy who, in the Disney version, saves him. The wooden boy is choking on the smoke. Witnesses of his deathbed suffering are a cat with a mutilated paw, which Pinocchio had previously bitten off, and a fox. Both animals were hanged by an evil wooden boy.

The editors found this ending to be too angry and sad. Therefore, it was decided to change the second part and add a different ending to make the story more positive and kind.

Thanks to the efforts of Walt Disney, after numerous misadventures that Pinocchio experienced because of his own disobedience and stubbornness, he returns to his old father and becomes a good boy.

History of Aladdin

2. Dismemberment in Aladdin

In the original version: Kassim was mutilated and brutally killed

For those who don't know, Kassim is the father that Aladdin lost in his early childhood. This character appears in the third part of the film. Kassim is the leader of the Forty Thieves. Surely, everyone has heard about this gang.

The stories of "Aladdin" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" are beginning to intertwine. To go to the wedding of his son and Princess Jasmine, Cassim had to leave the villainous trade for a while.

In the original version, Ali Baba learns what words to say to get into the cave where the forty thieves keep their treasures. Then he tells about the gold to his brother Cassim, also telling him magic words, thanks to which he still ends up in the treasury.

However, from the greedy excitement that seized him at the sight of such untold wealth, Cassim forgets the magic spells and cannot leave the cave. At this moment, the robbers return. Seeing an unexpected guest, they kill him in cold blood.

Fallen princesses: what happened to the heroines of fairy tales after the wedding?

Cassim's body was then cut into pieces. The dismembered limbs were left by the robbers at the entrance to the cave, as a warning to others who want to enter the treasury.

At the end of the tale, after numerous scenes of murder, only one slave remains alive.

Cinderella: original version

3. Killer Cinderella

In the original version: Cinderella kills the evil stepmother

Perhaps each of us is familiar with two versions of the tale about the poor girl who was offended by her evil stepmother. Cinderella by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm is based on the fairy tale by Giambattista Basile.

In Basile's version, there is another character - the governess, who at first is very supportive of Cinderella. The girl cries to her about her bitter fate and complains about her evil stepmother. The governess advises her to kill the one who makes Cinderella's life unbearable.

With one blow of the chest lid to the neck, the girl takes the life of her torturer. The governess marries Cinderella's father. However, her life becomes even sadder and harder than before.

As it turned out, the new stepmother has seven daughters, whom she hid. When they were introduced to Cinderella's father, he forgets about his own daughter. Now Cinderella is doomed to hard round-the-clock work. She is forced to do the most menial chores around the house.

5 Little-Known Versions of Famous Children's Fairy Tales

The final part of the story is very similar to the traditional fairy tale. Disney did not change the ending of the story, since in any version of the fairy tale about Cinderella - a happy ending. The poor girl, after suffering trials, marries a handsome prince.

And with Charles Perrault, and with the Brothers Grimm, and with Basile, a simple maid becomes a princess. Disney, who is an adherent of the "happy ending", did not change the final part of the story, but only I added positive and joyful faces to it.

So, the story about a poor girl with whom a prince falls in love was not always so harmless and pure as Disney presents us with.

Sleeping Beauty - original

4 Sleeping Beauty Is Among The Dead

In the original version: the sleeping beauty rests among the decaying corpses

Everyone remembers how in the famous fairy tale the witch cursed the girl. At the age of fifteen, the beauty was supposed to die from an injection with a spindle. However, another sorceress softened the curse by promising that it will not be death, but a dream of a hundred years.

The wild rose bushes that grew thickly around the castle became a prickly trap for hundreds of young people who, in the hope of seeing the sleeping princess, tried to pass these thorns. They all died, entangled in the thickets. They died a terrible and painful death.

Exactly one hundred years later, as the second sorceress had predicted, the curse was lifted. Abundant vegetation, which became the grave for many young guys, turned into wonderful flowers.

The Prince, passing by on horseback, sees Beauty. With his kiss, he brings her back to life. It was this happy ending that Disney filmed.

The original version of this story came from the same Giambattista Basile. And his scenario of the fairy tale was much less pure and joyful.

In his version, the king rapes the sleeping Beauty. In a dream, a girl becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. Then she wakes up, but her life is overshadowed by the machinations of the evil queen, who, nevertheless, in the end burns in fire destined for Beauty.

Despite the fact that the end of the tale is also happy, it is hard not to admit that the entire plot of the story is filled with disgusting scenes of violence and murder.

Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid

5. Bloodthirsty Little Mermaid

Disney made the cartoon "The Little Mermaid", based on the plot of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (Hans Christian Andersen). In this story, for the sake of the prince, the young Mermaid makes huge sacrifices: her tongue is cut off, and her legs bleed.

the little Mermaid endures unbearable pain in order to stay with his beloved. However, the prince marries another. Unable to kill the one she loves more than herself and her family, the Little Mermaid commits suicide by turning into sea foam.

However, Andersen himself invented his fairy tale based on another story written by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque (Friedrich de la Motte Fouque). His version of "Ondine" is more violent and sad.

Having received a human soul, Ondine marries a knight. However, numerous relatives of the mermaid are plotting, thus interfering with her happiness with her husband. In addition, the knight falls in love with Bertida, who settles in their castle.

Disney cartoons pale in comparison with Soviet cartoons

In order to save her lover and his new passion from the wrath of her uncle, the evil merman, Ondine commits suicide by throwing herself into the river. The knight marries Bertida. However, Ondine returns as a mermaid and kills an unfaithful husband.

A stream suddenly appears near the knight's grave, which is a kind of symbol that the mermaid and her lover are together even in the next world, and their love is stronger than life and death.

Fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Thunders

6. Torture of the unfortunate Snow White

In the original version: Snow White was tortured and became a slave

In the story told by the Brothers Grimm, the Queen attempted on the life of Snow White three times: at first she tried to strangle the girl by tightening her corset so tightly that made it impossible for her to breathe.

Then she combs the girl's hair poison comb. When this method did not bring the desired result, the evil queen decides poison your stepdaughter with an apple, biting which she dies.

The dwarves put Snow White in a glass coffin. The prince passing by, seeing the beautiful deceased, decides to take the coffin home. With a strong push, a piece of poisoned apple falls out of Snow White's throat, and she comes to life.

At the wedding of the stepdaughter and the handsome prince, the evil queen dances in hot iron shoes, then dies from burns to his legs.

Perhaps many will be surprised by the fact that the Brothers Grimm borrowed the idea of ​​​​a fairy tale from the same Basile, whose version was distinguished by particular bloodthirstiness and numerous scenes of violence.

According to Basile's story, the girl dies at the age of seven. Her body is placed in seven glass coffins. The key to the coffin is kept by the uncle of the deceased, as the girl's mother dies of grief. In a dream, the girl continues to grow and by a certain age becomes a real beauty.

Uncle's wife finds the coffin with the deceased. She pulls her hair, the poisonous comb falls out, and the girl comes to life. Suspecting the poor thing that she is her husband's mistress, the woman begins to treat her badly.

Snow White has her hair cut off, beaten half to death, and made into a slave. The poor thing is daily humiliated and beaten. This causes black circles under her eyes and bleeding from her mouth.

The girl decides to take her own life, but before that she talks about her plight to the doll. Snow White's uncle, having overheard her confession, understands everything. He divorces his wife, heals his crippled niece, then marries her to a rich and good man.

History of Hercules

7 Self-immolation Of Hercules

In the original version: Hercules burns himself

Zeus, the supreme god, rapes Amphitryon's wife, Alcmene, who also has sex with her that same night. As a result, Alcmene is pregnant with two babies from different fathers. From Zeus son Hercules is born.

The boy grows up, becomes a great and valiant warrior and marries the beautiful Megara. Being in a state of madness, which Hera sent to him, Hercules kills his children.

At the end of the story, his fourth wife hangs herself after seeing Hercules rip off his clothes along with his skin. He's trying to burn himself alive. However, only his flesh burns in the funeral pyre. The immortal part of his being returns to Olympus, where he lives happily ever after with Hera.

8 The Fox And The Death Of The Hound

In the original version: both animals die a terrible death

Copper and Chief, a brave hunting dog, have a rocky relationship. Copper hates Chief and is jealous of his master. It is obvious that the owner singles out Chifa from all his dogs. This is not surprising: after all, somehow Chief saved him from a bear attack, while Copper, frightened by a huge beast, simply hid.

Tod is the fox who always teased the master's dogs, driving them to madness. One day, after another provocation from Tod, the Chief breaks off the chain. In pursuit of a daring fox, Chief gets hit by a train and dies.

Grieving, the owner vows revenge on the fox. He trains Copper to ignore all the foxes except Tod.

Meanwhile, Tod and the old Fox make a mess in the forest. However, Copper and the owner, having stumbled upon a lair of foxes, gassed the little foxes inside. Master mercilessly kills one by one the cubs of Tod.

Tod himself always manages to get away from death. But Copper finds Tod and kills him. The dog himself is severely emaciated and also almost gives his soul to God. However, the owner takes care of his dog. For a while, both are almost happy.

Unfortunately, the owner starts drinking and ends up in a nursing home. In desperation, he takes a gun and kills his faithful dog. Copper died at the hands of his own master. Here is such a completely sad ending to the original story about the Fox and the faithful dog.

Cartoon hunchback

9. Death and suffering in The Hunchback

In the original version: both Esmeralda and Quasimodo are subjected to the most severe torture, then they both die

Hugo's version is undeniably more tragic. The enamored Frollo inflicts a terrible wound on the handsome Phoebus during his meeting with Esmeralda. Quasimodo then throws Frollo off the roof of Notre Dame. Disney toned down the story's ending. In the classical story, the beautiful gypsy was hung up on the gallows.

At the end of the story, the unfortunate hunchback goes to the crypt where the corpses of executed criminals lie. Finding his beloved among the rotting bodies, Quasimodo hugs her corpse. And after some time, people who entered the crypt see two skeletons that are intertwined in a strong embrace.

10 Pocahontas Was Raped And Murdered

In the original version: Pocahontas was kidnapped, raped and killed

The Disney film about the beautiful Indian girl Pocahontas was based on the notes of English travelers. The story covers the period of early colonization. Actions take place in the colony of Virginia.

When Pocahontas was very young, she was kidnapped by the British for ransom. The girl was raped and her husband was killed. She was then baptized and given the new name Rebecca.

To hide the pregnancy that came after the rape, Pocahontas is married to John Rolf (John Rolf). Together with her new family, the savage departs for England, where familiar things become a curiosity for her.

Two years later, the Rolphs decided to return to Virginia. On the eve of departure, Pocahontos becomes ill, she vomits violently. Suffering in terrible convulsions, the girl dies. Presumably, Pocahontas died of tuberculosis or pneumonia. She was only 22 years old.

However, according to another version, Pocahontas became aware of the plans of the British government to destroy the indigenous Indian tribes. The British intended to take the land from the people of Pacahontas.

Fearing that Pocahontas might reveal political strategies regarding the Indians, the British planned her poisoning. Pocahontas had to die before returning to her homeland and telling what she knew.

28.09.2017

An integral part of any fairy tale is the presence in it of such structural components as a beginning, a saying or a song, and an ending. Each of these parts plays its specific and very important role in the system of the whole genre. All this is a special formula of style, which determines the enduring interest in the fairy tale, with its rich ideological content, clarity and purity of expressed thoughts, artistic refinement and entertaining plot.

Saying

Usually fairy tales, and especially fairy tales, open their narrative with a saying. The main task of such a beginning is to immerse the reader in the special atmosphere of a fantasy world and set him, the reader or listener, to the necessary perception of the fabulous events of the entire work.

From the first lines, magical space seems to envelop us thanks to the saying, despite the fact that it has a relatively small size. One has only to remember the well-known cat-Bayun, who walks measuredly and sings his songs on a powerful oak towering on an island in the middle of the "ocean".

It is surprising that a special mood, designed to help comprehend the full depth and wisdom of folk thought, is born not from pompous edification, but with the help of humor, which is characteristic of a saying. The reception of a play on words, elements of some confusion help to rid the tale of an unnecessary moralizing tone, but retain its educational purpose.

Zachin

The next integral component of any fairy tale is the beginning. Its purpose is to perform several important tasks, and, above all, it is to provide the reader with sufficient information to help him form the correct idea of ​​​​the heroes of the fairy tale, and in the further course of the narrative, correctly understand and evaluate their characters, way of thinking, causal connection between their behavior and actions.

Thus, the beginning introduces us to fairy-tale characters, sends us to the right time and place of the events described. Already from the beginning it becomes obvious that the language of the fairy tale is completely special, not like the speech familiar to our ears - it is worth remembering the traditional “once upon a time” or “the fairy tale affects”.

ending

But any fairy-tale action must inevitably be brought to its logical conclusion, and here comes the time for the ending with its goal to end the story told. Usually, already familiar and quite stable statements cope with this task: “they live, they live, but they make good” or “they flowed down their mustaches, they didn’t get into their mouths.”

But not always the ending is some obvious conclusion, the author may well end his tale unexpectedly and suddenly. But he should not forget that the ending, nevertheless, must be composed correctly, so that it certainly contains conclusions about what was told.

The fairy tale genre is also characterized by the abundant use of repetitions, the true purpose of which is to bring the action of the work closer to its completion, denouement. Repetitions, each time pointing to certain details of an object, character or phenomenon, serve to enhance the impression on the reader.

Details repeated three times play a special role here: three sons, three heads of the serpent Gorynych, three trials given to the hero.

Poetic parts of fairy tales

In many fairy tales, poetic parts are also found, with a special rhyme. Thus, its own melody of a fairy tale, motive, its melody and musical mood, in general, is created. A "skazovy" verse can usually include a different number of syllables, but the stresses are mostly equal in number.

This implies another feature of fairy tale narration - you can often find a fairy tale, akin to a song. Often, beautiful girls sing their sad thoughts on the shore of a clear lake, or a vociferous cockerel calls for help with a song, falling into the cunning paws of a nimble fox.

From the last example, we can also conclude that onomatopoeia is also widespread in fairy tales.

Dialogues in a fairy tale are always lively and natural. By intonation, characters often betray their true intentions and positive qualities that are not always inherent in them - for example, the speech of a fox will certainly be full of flattery, and the voice of a soldier will remain lively, even and slender in any situation.

The saturation of the tale with various kinds of repetitions, parallelism, rhythmic constructions and other peculiar means of expressive speech undoubtedly prove the colorfulness and richness of the living folk language. Preserving and passing on from generation to generation high concepts of the content of good and evil, justice, truth and other moral values, a fairy tale is the source of all the most important life definitions and patterns.

Julia Korotkova told about the structure of fairy tales