Household Fairy Tales of the Kalmyks: an Effort of Research and Classification

Abstract

So far the genre of the Kalmyk household fairy tale has not been a subject of special folklore research despite the generally accepted fact that household fairy tales of the Kalmyks are of exceptionally high artistic merit. They have a well-defined specificity that manifests itself in peculiarities of their plots, the system of images and characters, originality of artistic and expressive means. The universal classification of genres can be well applied to Kalmyk fairy tales, though there are some specific features; there are magic, household, satirical, heroic fairy tales and fairy tales about animals. In terms of artistic contents and plot typology as well as functions of characters, household fairy tales can be classified as follows: 1) about cunning and dexterous people, thieves; 2) about wise guessers; 3) about fairy tale characters’ pursuits of happiness; 4) about married couples; 5) about clergymen; 6) about fools. The preliminary examination of plots of Kalmyk household fairy tales and their topics has identified that they contain oppositions as follows: “clever - fool, silly”, “rich - poor”, “generous - avaricious”, “good - evil”. Nowadays one of the main goals of Kalmyk folklore studies is to explore and publish the plots of Kalmyk household fairy tales. Comprehensive textual studies of the Kalmyk household fairy tale are actual enough since separate fairy tale plots of the Kalmyks - recorded from various taletellers and at various times - have numerous versions. Preparation and publication of unique Kalmyk household fairy tales within “The Corpus of Kalmyk Folklore” is of great importance for preservation, revival and enrichment of the national cultural heritage.

Keywords

• kalmyk folklore
• fairy-tale tradition
• household fairy tales
• plots
• versions
• hero