For children, a fairy tale is an amazing but fictional story about magical objects, monsters and heroes. However, if you look deeper, it becomes clear that a fairy tale is a unique encyclopedia that reflects the life and moral principles of any nation.
For several hundred years, people have come up with a huge number of fairy tales. Our ancestors passed them by word of mouth. They changed, disappeared and returned again. Moreover, the heroes of fairy tales can be completely different characters. Most often, the heroes of Russian folk tales are animals, and in European literature the main characters are more often princesses and children.
Tale and its significance for the people
A fairy tale is a narrative story about fictional, not really happening events with the participation of fictional heroes and magic characters. Fairy tales composed by the people and being the creation of folk traditions exist in every country. Residents of Russia are closer to Russian folk tales about animals, kings and Ivan the Fool, residents of England - about leprechauns, gnomes, cats, etc.
Tales have a powerful educational power. A child from the diaper listens to fairy tales, associates himself with characters, puts himself in their place. Thanks to this, he develops a certain model of behavior. Folk tales about animals teach respect for our smaller brothers.
It is also worth noting that Russian fairy tales of a domestic nature include words such as "master", "man." This arouses curiosity in the child. With the help of fairy tales, you can interest the child in history.
Everything that is invested in a child in childhood remains with him forever. Properly brought up in fairy tales, the baby will grow up to be a decent and responsive person.
Composition
Most tales are written in the same system. It is the following diagram:
1) Reason . The place where the events will take place is described here. If these are folk tales about animals, then in the beginning, the description will begin with the forest. Here, the reader or listener gets acquainted with the main characters.
2) The tie . At this stage of the tale, the main intrigue takes place, which turns into the beginning of the plot. Suppose a hero has a problem and he must solve it.
3) The climax . It is also called the top of the tale. Most often this is the middle of the work. The situation is heating up, the most responsible actions are taking place.
4) Decoupling . At this point, the protagonist solves his problem. All characters live happily ever after (as a rule, folk tales have a good, good ending).
Most tales are built according to this scheme. It can also be found in copyright works, only with significant additions.
Russian folk tales
They represent a huge block of folklore. Russian fairy tales are diverse. Their stories, actions and characters are somewhat similar, but, nevertheless, each is unique in its own way. Sometimes they come across the same folk tales about animals, their names being different.
All Russian folk tales can be classified as follows:
1) Folk tales about animals, plants and inanimate nature ("Terem-Teremok", "Chicken-pock", etc.)
2) Magic ("Tablecloth-self-assembly", "Flying ship").
3) Non-fables ("Fiction-fiction", "Vanya rode on a horse ...")
4) Boring fairy tales ("About a white bull", "The priest had a dog").
5) Household ("The master and the dog", "Good pop", "Good and bad," "Pot").
There are quite a few classifications, but we considered the one proposed by V. Ya. Propp, one of the outstanding researchers of the Russian fairy tale.
Animal images
Each person who grew up in Russia can list the main animals that are characters in Russian fairy tales. A bear, a wolf, a fox, a hare are the heroes of Russian fairy tales. Animals live in the forest. Each of them has its own image, in literary criticism called allegory. For example, the wolf we meet in Russian fairy tales is always hungry and angry. This is always a negative hero. Because of his anger or greed, he often gets into trouble.
The bear is the master of the forest, the king. In fairy tales, he is usually portrayed as a fair and wise ruler.
A fox is an allegory of cunning. If this animal is present in the fairy tale, then one of the other heroes will definitely be deceived. A hare is an image of cowardice. He is usually the eternal victim of a fox and a wolf intending to eat it.
So, it is precisely such heroes that Russian folk tales about animals represent to us. Let's see how they behave.
Examples
Consider some folk tales about animals. The list is huge, we will try to analyze only a few. For example, take the tale "The Fox and the Crane." She tells the story of a Fox who called Crane for dinner. She cooked porridge, smeared on a plate. And Crane is uncomfortable to eat, so he didn’t get any porridge. Such was the trick of the frugal Fox. The crane invited Fox to dinner, cooked okroshka and offered to eat from a jug with a high neck. But the Fox never got to okroshka. The moral of the tale is: how it comes around, so, unfortunately, it will respond.
An interesting tale about Kotofey Ivanovich. One man brought the cat to the forest and left it there. He was found by a fox and married him. She began to tell all the beasts how strong and feisty he was. The wolf and the bear decided to come to look at him. The fox warned that it was better for them to hide. They climbed a tree, and under it laid the meat of a bull. A cat with a fox came, the cat attacked the meat, began to say: "Meow, meow ...". And the wolf and the bear think: "Little! Little!". They marveled, wanted to take a closer look at Kotofey Ivanovich. The leaves fluttered, and the cat thought it was a mouse, and clawed it into the muzzle with its claws. The wolf and the fox fled.
These are Russian folk tales about animals. As you can see, the fox circles all around the finger.
Animals in English Tales
Good characters in English fairy tales are a chicken and a rooster, a cat and a cat, a bear. The fox and the wolf are always negative characters. It is noteworthy that, according to the studies of philologists, the cat in English fairy tales has never been a negative character.
Like Russians, English folk tales of animals divide the characters into good and evil. Good always triumphs over evil. Also, the works have a didactic purpose, that is, at the end there are always moral conclusions for readers.
Examples of English animal tales
An interesting work is "The Cat King". It tells of two brothers who lived in a forest with a dog and a black cat. One brother once lingered on a hunt. Upon his return, he began to tell miracles. Says he saw a funeral. Many cats carried a coffin with a crown and scepter depicted. Suddenly a black cat lying at his feet raised his head and cried out: "Old Peter is dead! I am the cat king!" After that I jumped into the fireplace. No one else saw him.
An example is the comic tale "Willy and the Pig". One owner entrusted his stupid servant to take the piglet to his friend. However, Willy's friends persuaded him to go to the tavern, and while he was drinking, they jokingly replaced the piglet with a dog. Willie thought it was a devil's joke.
Animals in other genres of literature (fables)
It is worth noting that Russian literature includes not only Russian folk tales about animals. She is also rich in fables. Animals in these works possess such qualities of people as cowardice, kindness, stupidity, envy. Especially animals as characters loved to use I. A. Krylov. His fables "Crow and fox", "Monkey and glasses" are known to all.
Thus, we can conclude that the use of animals in fairy tales and fables gives literature a special charm and style. Moreover, in English and Russian literature, the heroes are the same animals. Only their stories and characteristics are completely different.