"Reincarnations of the Luminous Twins" (*)

The ancient version of the fairy tale "Wonderful Children" is connected with the mythological past by a twin theme, which has long been noted by V. F. Miller. He drew attention to No. 287 from the collection of A. N. Afanasyev, which the compiler placed at the end of the group of texts of the main East Slavic version. In the book" Essays on Aryan mythology in connection with the most ancient culture, Vol. I: Asvins-Dioscuri "(Moscow, 1876), Miller thoroughly investigated the manifestations of the twin myth in the Vedas, among the ancient Greeks and Slavs. Unfortunately, this great work of the outstanding philologist, head of the historical school of Russian folklore studies, is not mentioned in the article " Twin Myths "of the encyclopedia" Myths of the Peoples of the World " (Vol. 1, pp. 174-176). However, this article also omits the Slavic theme, just as the article "Slavic Mythology" does not mention anything about the twin myth among the Slavs (Vol. 2, pp. 450-456).

A. M. Zolotarev believed that in ancient folklore the theme of twins was generated by a dual social organization: the story of twin brothers ("the fundamental myth") explained the establishment of tribal divisions (phratries). Over a long historical period, the twin myth has undergone various transformations, including evolving into a fairy-tale type about two brothers - "good and evil, lucky and unlucky, smart and stupid" (Zolotarev A.M. Generic structure and primitive mythology, Moscow, 1964, p. 297).

The twin myth has deep roots in Indo-European culture. One of its earliest manifestations is the images of the divine twins

* 0complete. For the beginning, see: Russian speech. 2000. N 2.

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The Ashwins described in the Rig Veda are a monument of the ancient Aryans, created in the second half of the second millennium BC. The hymn dedicated to the Ashwins reveals a strong stylistic development of the idea of twinness. They are compared with a wide variety of both paired and unpaired objects and phenomena: "Like two crushing stones"; "Like two kites on one tree"; "Like two brahmanas singing hymns during a ceremony"; "Like two charioteer husbands"; "Like two twin goats", "Like two concubines"; "Like two householders"; "Like two horns (animal)", etc. (Rig Veda: Mandalas I-IV. Moscow, 1989. N 39). In the Old Slavic version of the fairy tale "Wonderful Children", the motif with the transformation of twins is similar. Let's highlight one of the comparisons related to the Ashwins: "Like two twin goats." It is possible that it reflects a long-standing fusion of twin and totem myths, which was later preserved among the Slavs.

According to N. I. Tolstoy, the phenomenon of twinness was associated among the people "with the negative semantics of the number two" (Tolstoy N. I. Gemini / / Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary, Moscow, 1995, Vol. 1, p. 191). The customs and rituals that accompanied it may have given rise to a well-known folklore motif of the expulsion (murder, substitution) of twin babies. Endowed with a supernatural beginning, the twins had to return to their non-human nature. In later maternity rites, the imitation of the death of the baby, its substitution, calling a false name, and so on is known. One of the researchers came to the conclusion about the "complete structural coincidence" of such actions with the plot motif of the fairy tale "Wonderful Children" (Dmitriev S. V. Motif of replacing babies in fairy tales, legends, legends // Folklore of the peoples of the RSFSR: Folklore and Ethnography. Common and special things in the folklore of different peoples. Ufa, 1990). It is noteworthy that the author ignored the twin theme, because over time it faded - both in everyday life and in a fairy tale. In the main East Slavic version of the plot, a characteristic tripling already appears: the queen will give birth to a son within three years, or three sons in three bellies.

And in the ancient version, the twin theme could sometimes be weakened. For example, in the version from the collection of Fyodorovsky, the tsarina did not give birth to twins, but to the weather; but when the transformations reached the lambs, it was the twins who were born to the sheep. At the same time, in the version from Yavorsky's collection, the twin theme is reinforced: "And trata kazhe: "Mene koby pan snyau, then I would give birth to zolbty dity - two claps at a time!"".

The mythological nature of the twins was associated with a pronounced negative or positive attitude towards them. There are numerous everyday confirmations of this, which is revealed by the mentioned dictionary article by N. I. Tolstoy. It is noteworthy that the illustration placed in it - a Slovak woodcut-depicts twins with a month in their foreheads and stars on their bodies (Tolstoy NI.

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Gemini, p. 192). The twin theme is present in Slavic folk ornaments (embroidery, architectural decor), in folk toys.

One of the evidences of the ancient Slavic twin cult can presumably serve as an image of a Golden Woman with two babies, which once stood in a pagan temple on the bank of the Ob River.: "They sacrificed sables and martens to her and clothed her in these skins. (...) Faith in this goddess was so strong that even foreign travelers sacrificed gold, silver and other things to her according to the extent of their possessions; for the priests assured that those who neglected such an offering would get lost on their way "(Kaisarov A. S. Slavic and Russian mythology / / Myths of the ancient Slavs. Saratov, 1993, p. 47).

V. F. Miller saw echoes of the Slavic twin cult in the paired images of Flora and Laurel (patrons of herds), Kuzma and Demyan (patrons of weddings, blacksmiths-assistants of the snake-fighter), Boris and Gleb (patrons of agriculture), and also-hypothetically - in the images of Lel and Polel, two twins, sons of the pagan goddess Lada (Miller V. F. Essays on Aryan Mythology ... pp. 267-324). V. B. Zaikovsky finds analogies to this in paired phrases like "dvandva": Peter-Paul, Zosima-Savvati, Paraskeva-Friday, Yuri-Mikola, Yegor-Makarii, and so on. (Zaikovsky V. B. Folk calendar of the Eastern Slavs // Ethnographic review. 1994. N 4).

Throwing wonderful children into a pond is a characteristic feature of the fairy-tale plot No. 707 in all its national versions. Historical and ethnographic evidence of this method of ritual murder (or its imitation) is known in almost all peoples, including the Slavs. A special study is required to judge whether the ritual drowning of newborns took place in everyday life. However, it is safe to say that the attitude towards infants was ambiguous. So, among the Slavs, special names were given to children who died without baptism (navki, mavki, poterchata). It was believed that they, like mermaids, are dangerous for the living, and their habitat was water.

In the main East Slavic version of the fairy tale, there are variants in which the place of exile of wonderful children also turns out to be a reservoir. Например: Десь та не десь та така криничка Е, а в miu Kpimuui та три сини за лото кучеряв! (Proceedings of the ethnographic and statistical expedition to the Western Russian Region, equipped by the Russian Geographical Society. South-Western Department: Materials and research collected by P. P. Chubinsky, vol. 2: Malorusskie skazki. St. Petersburg, 1878. N9).

This theme is repeated especially persistently in ballads - it is enough to refer only to the list of their plot forms:

"A girl gave birth to a son and threw him into the Danube", "A nun gave birth to a child

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and threw it into the water", "The mother intends to throw her son into the lake", "The Lord and the girl who drowned the children unbaptized" (Smirnov Yu. I. East Slavic ballads and forms close to them: Experience of the index of plots and versions. Moscow, 1988).

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At a certain stage of development, the twin myth acquired cosmogonic features (Zolotarev A.M. Generic structure ... pp. 127, 295).

A. N. Veselovsky noted that fairy-tale formulas could be the remnants of myths. Such a researcher was the Slavic myth of the humanoid sun, which he put in the context of the mythology of other peoples (ancient Greeks, Germans, Romanians, Italians, etc.). Finding traces of it in the spiritual verse about Yegor the Brave, as well as in Russian fairy tales and spells, Veselovsky emphasized that they should already "be interpreted in the sense of a walking metaphor, not as mythological" (Veselovsky A. N. Search in the field of Russian spiritual verse. VI-X. St. Petersburg, 1883, pp. 297-298).

The formula of beauty is a bright sign of the fairy tale "Wonderful Children", it is not by chance that A. N. Afanasyev titled its East Slavic version "Knee-deep legs in gold, elbow-deep hands in silver". However, only isolated cases literally coincide with this description. It usually forms the first part of the formula, the traditional continuation of which draws children with the sun in their foreheads, the moon in the back of their heads, and stars in their hair. Of course, Afanasyev could only use the first sentence for brevity. There are variants in which the beauty formula consists exclusively of images of heavenly bodies (that is, its first part is missing). For example:"... If he had fallen in love with me, I would have borne him sons, no matter how beautiful falcons: the sun is in his forehead, and the moon is on the back of his head, and stars are on the sides" (Folk Russian fairy tales by A. N. Afanasyev. N 283). Note that the Old Slavic version also does not mention the" silver "hands and" golden "legs of the twins, usually paying attention to their luminous hair:" Khlopchyki gety sklanilise yes shapachki znyali, so I zasvyatsili all pakoy "(Ibid. N 287).

One collector suggested the cult character of the fairy-tale formula: the basis of the fantasy was supposedly a statue fused from gold and silver (Notes of the Krasnoyarsk Sub-department of the East Siberian Department of the Russian Geographical Society for Ethnography, Vol. 1. Issue 2: Russian and foreign fairy tales of the Yenisei and Tomsk provinces. Tomsk, 1906. p. 5). The genesis of this theme leads to the Indo-European myth of the creation of the world from the body of the first man, sacrificed to the gods by dismembering it into parts that were identified with the elements of the cosmos. Traces of such a myth are found in the Vedic story about the cosmic giant Purusha:

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When the Purusha was dismembered, how many parts was it divided into? What is his height, what are his arms, what are his hips, what are his legs called? His mouth became a brahmana, His hands became rajanya, His thighs became vaishya, and from His feet a sudra was born. The moon is born from (his) spirit, the sun is born from his eyes, Indra and Agni are born from his mouth, and the wind is born from his breath. From the navel emerged the air space, From the head developed the sky, From the feet - the earth, the cardinal directions-from the ear.

(The Rig Veda. Selected Hymns, Moscow, 1972, pp. 260-261).

Among the Eastern Slavs, this theme is presented in the spiritual verse "Pigeon Book", where instead of Purusha - Christ (or, according to some versions, Sabaoth):

We have a white free light conceived from the judgment of God, The Sun is red from the face of God, Christ Himself, the King of Heaven; The moon is young-bright from his breasts, The Stars are frequent from the robes of God, The nights are dark from the thoughts of the Lord, the dawns of the morning from the eyes of the Lord, The Winds are violent from the Holy Spirit, Christ himself, the King of Heaven. We have a mind-the mind of Christ himself, Our thoughts are from the clouds of heaven...

(Pigeon Book. Russian nar. dukhovnye stikhi XI-XIX vv. M., 1991. p. 36).

At the same time, the fairy-tale formula of beauty is firmly connected with Yegor the Brave-Saint George, who in the folk tradition merged with the pagan Dazhbog:

When tours, deer on the mountains one went, When wolves, foxes on zasekam, When gray ermine in the dark forests, Ishshe fish stepped into the deep sea, When the sky ascended yes mlat svetel mesets, On the ground-that gave birth to a mighty hero Ishshe ni name Yegorey svety brave. Yes, the sun is red on his forehead, The sun is bright on the back of his head, The stars are clear On the exuberant head, The dawn is clear On the braids. May eta vestotska go all over the land, Shsho all over the land and all over the world in Russia.

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(Sokolov B. M. Big verse about Yegor the Brave. Research and Materials, Moscow, 1995, p. 142).

Precious metals and stones were widely used in the manufacture of idols of celestial deities (Greek Apollo, ancient Russian Perun, etc.). However, the pagans did not worship metals and stones, but what they symbolized. The myth, which was included in the fairy-tale formula of beauty, carried the idea of heavenly light, the radiance that emanated from the wonderful appearance of the character. This is directly indicated by some variants of the fairy tale in its different versions. For example: "Довго шукали братiв, а знайти не могли. Та якось один селянин нобачив, що в його стогу свiтиться. Налякався, що солома загорiлася. А коли прибiг, побачив трьох хлопчикiв - iз солнцем, мiсяцем та зiркою на чолi - i молоду жiнку" (Чарiвне серце. Закарпатськi казки. Uzhgorod, 1964. pp. 69-72);

"... And everything in the barn shone with these brothers - they are so golden. (...) Go, and the mother looks: so everything shines brightly from the nine brothers" (Tales of Zaonezhye. Petrozavodsk, 1986, No. 57).

The formula of beauty, as well as its individual elements (sun, moon, stars, dawn, "golden" and "silver" parts of the body) are widely represented in East Slavic ethnography and folklore. A magical ornament consisting of celestial bodies is found on spinning wheels, kitchen utensils, and home decor. In the christening song they sang: "Colo of the month, / Colo of the clear/ Mustache drobnye zvezdy, / Kolo Gaurylki, / Kolo dushechki / Mustache any gosci... "(Karsky E. F. Belorusy. Vol. 3: Ocherki slovesnosti belorusskogo plemen. I Narodnaya poeziya. Moscow, 1916. P. 221). In the wedding ceremony and his poetry, all things were imbued with the sacred protection of the deity of light-people, their clothes, homes, the natural world. Belarusians called the bride this way: "How did our Maryushka succeed? / Па пояс у золата улшася, / А па плечы у чыстае серабро" (Вяселле: Песш: У 6-ц1 кн. Mshchsk, 1981. Kn. 2. N 782). Ukrainians similarly called the oven when a wedding loaf was baked in it: "A noshoi pechi (2) / Zolotii plechi, / A sribnii krila, / Shchob korovai gnitila (browned. - T. Z.) "(Vesilni pisni: In 2 books. Kiiv, 1982. Kn. 1. N 233); " And in our pechi (2) / Zolotye plechi: / Zolotoe sya roztopilo. / Korovay attached" (Ibid. Book 2. N 223). The loaf itself was decorated with the image of the moon, stars, and the sun; it was given a sun-like round shape, and sometimes the shape of a crescent. The songs told about the radiance of the loaf and that its father is the moon, its mother is the dawn. Similarly, the groom was also styled. The triad of heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars) is known in the funeral lamentations of the Slavs. Researchers emphasized its importance in roundabout calendar songs (carols, Christmas trees, oats, grapes).

I. I. Sreznevsky gave information from the description of the sun temples of the pagan Slavs, which was left by an Arab historian and

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the traveler Masudi. They performed the rites of divination and predictions:"...One of the Slavic churches was famous for the superstructures made in its dome for observing the sunrise, stones inserted there, signs drawn there and indicating the future, events predicted by these stones before they happened (...) And in general, "Sreznevsky added," the Slavs still have several ways of divination by the sun, month, and stars" (I. I. Sreznevsky On pagan worship... p. 84).

The "memory" of this is contained in a rare Ukrainian fairy tale, the hero of which could not find his betrothed - the Golden-haired Elena. "When you write to sontsya-pytatysya, chy ne vydilo it zolototovolosoyi Yaleny? And sontse kazhe: "I see mountains and valleys, ale takoi Yaleny I ne nakhodylo!" (...) And vin togdy pishou to misyats. And misyats kazhe: "I little shvychu, lyshe in nochy, that vsyudy ne dosvychu; I ne znahodyu such Yaleny nigde!" (...) I vin pishbu dali-do vytra" (Yavorsky Yu. A. Monuments of Galician-Russian culture... N 42). We assumed that this fairy tale was known to A. S. Pushkin in some oral form. In any case, its similarity with the motif of the search for the dead tsarevna by Korolevich Elisha is obvious (Zueva T. V. Tales of A. S. Pushkin, Moscow, 1989, pp. 95-97). A similar plot is also found in ballads.

G. A. Bartashevich noted the special role of heavenly bodies in conspiracies. According to her observations, the luminaries primarily appear in the initial and final formulas as a kind of supernatural force that helps in earthly affairs. She gave a formula from a pastoral plot from the wolves (Gomel region): "Dze geta skatska rabaya bud-ze hadzsch, there budze I nachavats. Дзень была пад сонцам, вечар пад месяцам, сонцам асвящлась, месяцам агарадзшась, зорачкам! асыпся" (Барташэвiч Г.А. Беларусская народная паэзiя веснавога цыкла i славянская фальклорная традыцыя. Mshsk, 1985, p. 79). Similarly, in the Arkhangelsk Province, a person protected himself "from approaching the authorities or propitiating judges":"... I will go, servant of God, to a white light, to a clear field, under a red sun, under a bright moon, under frequent stars, under flying clouds. I, the servant of God (namyarek), will stand in a clear field, on a level place, which is on the throne of my Lord; I will put on clouds, I will cover myself with heaven, I will put a red sun on my head, I will put a bright young moon on myself, I will gird myself with bright dawns, I will put on frequent stars, which are sharp arrows-from every! "(Maikov L. N. Great Russian Spells, St. Petersburg, 1869, pp. 562-563).

Yu. I. Smirnov singled out the theme "Heavenly bodies on the body" as a permanent place (locus communis) of Slavic epic songs. He noted this in the southern and eastern Slavs (Smirnov Yu. I. Similar descriptions in Slavic epic songs and their meaning / / Slavic and Balkan Folklore, Moscow, 1971, pp. 99-101). Earlier, A. S. Famintsyn wrote about this problem

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The theme is used in the folklore of Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians and Eastern Slavs. In the Bulgarian song "the supreme representative of heaven" merged with the prophet Elijah, who was depicted as:

Боже Иленче, Сосъ ясно слънце на чело, Сосъ месечина на грло, Сосъ дребни звезде на снага.

(God Elijah With a clear sun on his brow, With a moon on his throat, With fractional stars on his body).

(Famintsyn A. S. Deities of the ancient Slavs, St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 125).

A Serbian song similarly depicts Solntseva's sister at the maiden's spring:

As in krinitsa the water is frozen, On the water there is a silver chair, And on the chair the maiden is red; Her legs are yellow up to her knees, And her hands are gilded up to her shoulders, And her hair is silk threads.

(Serbian folk songs and fairy tales from the collection of Vuk Stefanovich Karadzic, Moscow, 1987, p. 31).

The mythological part of the epic about the hero of the Danube tells about the wonderful baby in the womb:

"I have a child sown with you in my womb, he has legs in silver on his knees, his hands in red gold on his elbows, And a bright moon is baking behind him, As if a ray is baking From clear eyes."

(Onega Epics recorded by A. F. Hilferding in the summer of 1871: In 3 volumes, Moscow-Leningrad, 1950, vol. 2, p. 108).

The image of luminaries on the body in the form of a formula or its separate images is known not only in fairy tales about the innocent mother (SUS, 706, 707); it also appeared in other plots of East Slavic fairy tales: "Dunno" (SUS, 532); "The Godchild of the Mother of God" (SUS, 710); "The Substituted Princess" (SUS, 710).SUS, 533). It is significant that sometimes such an image was transmitted in song form. For example:

"And these tsar and tsarina both died. Vanya stayed with Marfa... He's a bike for her:

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Bye-bye, Marfushka dityatko, We have Marfushka's arm in silver up to her elbows, We have Marfushka's leg in gold up to her knees, The sun is on her forehead, the moon is on the back of her head, The stars are often scattered in crayons on her pigtails. Cry, duck skachen pearls will roll, Laugh-yafonty...

(Skazy i skazki Belomorya i Pinezhya [Fairy tales and fairy tales of the White Sea and Pinezhye]. Arkhangelsk, 1941, p. 71).

These numerous facts testify to the original character of the cosmogonic myth, which left an indelible mark on the culture of the Slavs, including "petrified" in the poetic formula of the fairy tale about wonderful children.

* * *

The birth of the classical fairy tale from the depths of mythological was associated with the transition of folklore to "reflective traditionalism", that is, with the establishment of an artistic canon. New stories were born on the same mythological basis, but their design was already determined by genre rules. Fairy-tale stories began to reflect new life realities.

The East Slavic type of fairy tale "Wonderful Children" contains the theme of a beautiful island in the middle of the sea. In it, in accordance with the requirements of the established genre, the liberator appeared - the last son of the queen, hidden from the evil sisters (or Baba Yaga bribed by them), who, along with his mother, was thrown into the sea in a barrel. Then they escaped to the island.

Following Pushkin, we can judge the appearance of this plot version in the era of Kievan Rus.

Since ancient times, there have been peaceful contacts between the Eastern Slavs and other peoples. Kievan Rus actively used water trade routes: in the VIII-X centuries, Old Russian flotillas numbered up to two thousand ships. Their structure is well known. "Plank rooks", which could accommodate from 40 to 60 people, were made from a dugout deck, sheathed with boards; later, the Cossacks built their ships in the same way (Levchenko M. V. Essays on the history of Russian-Byzantine relations, Moscow, 1956, pp. 143-146). The fairy tale "Wonderful Children" in its East Slavic version reflected this historical reality, creating a vivid image of the trading people. Performers called them differently: shipbuilders, passing gentlemen shipbuilders, guests-shipbuilders, krenschiki-kyrabelschiki, fishermen-shipbuilders, merchants, merchants-merchants, overseas merchants. This image is found in various fairy-tale plots, as well as in epics.

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B.A. Rybakov wrote about the sea of Russian folklore: "This is a real historical Black Sea-Azov Sea, long known to the Slavs and even sometimes called the "Russian Sea". (...) In this sea there is the fabulous island of Buyan, in which you can easily guess the island of Berezan (Borysthenes), which lay on the well-traveled route to the Greek lands; Russian merchant ships were equipped on this island in the X century" (Rybakov B. A. Paganism of Ancient Russia, Moscow, 1987, p. 761). O. N. Trubachev also emphasized he singled out historical information about the "Rus Island", but placed it on the Lower Danube: the prince and the squad "knew the legend of the ancient residence of the Slavs on the Danube", and the consolidation on the Danube was for Svyatoslav the key to his "all-Slavic mission" (Trubachev O. N. Ethnogenesis and culture of the oldest Slavs: Linguistic. research, Moscow, 1991, p. 238). There is another point of view on the prototype of the folklore and mythological Buyan, according to which it was located in the north, in the "Baltic-Slavic Ruyan" [modern island of Rügen in Germany] (Vilinbakhov V. B. Baltic-Slavic Ruyan in the reflection of Russian folklore // Russian Folklore. Vol. 11.Moscow-L., 1968). These opinions have different historical justifications in time, so they do not contradict each other. Mythological ideas about the sea and the island in the middle of it as a kind of sacred place are generally characteristic of the Slavs. In the book by V. L. Klyaus "Index of plots and plot situations of conspiracy texts of Eastern and Southern Slavs "(Moscow, 1997), the texts of Slavic conspiracies were processed on a computer. Among subjects and loci (places of action), the highest frequency was shown by "sea, ocean" and very high - "island" (pp. 428-432).

The ancient Rusichs, sailors and shipbuilders, developed a fur trade. They exported furs and used them for money. An indirect argument that the original East Slavic type of fairy tale "Wonderful Children" was created in the Kievan period is a group of its variants, in which the island is full of rare fur-bearing animals. The queen's son turns out to be a skilled hunter, and he sends the best skins as a gift to his father: "And such and such skins are not bulo nshche on the whole earth, but only on that island, but not bulo y zvi nide such, yak there on that island" (Folk South Russian fairy tales. Issue 2. Kiev, 1870. N 27; see also: Staraya pogudka na novyi lad, ili Polnoe sobranie drevnykh prostonarodnykh skazok [The Old Pogudka in a new Way, or The Complete Collection of ancient folk Tales]. Moscow, 1795. ch. 3. pp. 25-44 (first publication of the fairy tale); Narodnye russkie skazki A. N. Afanasyev. No. 289, note; Northern Fairy Tales (Arkhangelsk and Olonets provinces). Collection of N. E. Onchukov, St. Petersburg, 1908, No. 5, etc.).

In the main version of the fairy tale, the image of various actions of the pest allows you to distinguish three versions:: 1) substitution of children and turning them into animals, 2) just substitution of animals, 3) substitution of letters. We can see the gradual fading of the original interpretation of children as werewolves.

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The closest approach to the ancient version is found in the first edition. The pest wraps the children in pigeons and sends them to the farthest lands, to the farthest kingdom, to the forest, to the green oak tree. In another version of this edition, he wraps the children in cubs and sends them to a distant forest, to a clear clearing between hazel trees; to a clear field.

The magical transformation of children into animals was sometimes depicted with a ritual connotation. For example, Baba Yaga beats a child with a twig from a broom, saying: "Turn yourself into a gray wolf, run to a pure field to polesnichat! "(Notes of the Krasnoyarsk Sub-department of the East Siberian Department of the Russian Geographical Society for Ethnography, Vol. 1. Issue 1: Russian Fairy Tales and songs in Siberia, etc. materials. Krasnoyarsk, 1902, No. 59). In another version, Baba Yaga took a wonderful child, put it on the palm of her hand. "Well," he says, "bluish pigeon, curl up like a pigeon, fly to the green oak tree!" (Khudyakova I. A. Great Russian fairy tales. St. Petersburg, 1862, Issue 3, No. 111). There could have been a more detailed depiction of witchcraft. For example: "I brought an old woman, the old woman ordered the bathhouse to be heated, took the parent to the bathhouse. God gave her a Sunny child in her arms. She sits a child on a golichok, opens the door at the window, says to him: "Fly, Sun, for the blue of the sea, for the dark of the forest, in such you know how to stand an oak-tree, under an oak-tree there is a chesovaya bed, there is a down pillow, a sable blanket! Day you vyunosem fly, to the night here fly, on etoy bed play. One day you will live there forever! "" (Fairy tales by Dmitry Aslamov. Irkutsk, 1991. N 1). Therefore, this edition is formed by one common feature - werewolf miraculous children. It had different concrete forms, because it came from a mythological fairy tale.

The return of children to their original appearance led to the appearance of various additional episodes in the classic version. Among them, a special variety is formed by a group of options in which wonderful children should learn the taste of their mother's breast milk. The magic power of human milk is found in fairy tales of different nations. According to the archaic and probably native interpretation of this topic, mother's milk could remove witchcraft, restore the human form.

The liberator-son crumbled crumpets mixed with his mother's milk in the forest. "Pigeons flew in and started pecking at the crumpets. Golubchiki who pecked, so golubchiki and remained, and his brothers shared, like this boy, just exhausted, thin " (Tambov folklore. Tambov, 1941. N 4). The same episode, but only with lambs, is available in the Bulgarian version (and in its Old Slavic version) fairy tales "Wonderful children". The stepmother put the twin lambs in a tarred basket and threw them into the river. They were fished out by their own mother. By miraculous signs, she recognized the lambs as her own children. "She took them to the hut and gave them a breast. One lamb took a sip of milk and

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he immediately turned into a baby. The mother was overjoyed and gave the breast to the second one. And the second one turned into a baby" (Bulgarian folk Tales, p. 83).

In the second edition of the main version of the fairy tale, where there is no werewolf, cakes (kolobki, pies) mixed with the queen's breast milk are needed only for children to "recognize" their mother: "Suddenly the room lit up - three brothers came in with the sun, with the moon, with the stars; they sat down at the table, tasted the cakes and learned mother's milk " (Folk Russian fairy tales by A. N. Afanasyev. N 283). There are many similar variants, which clearly indicates the connection of a classic fairy tale with its mythological prototype.

So, created by the people of Kievan Rus and subsequently widely known in the folklore of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, the original version of the fairy tale "Wonderful Children" had a specific Old Slavic source: a mythological fairy tale-a ballad that told about the birth of light-emitting twin boys and their reincarnations. In the later classical version of the plot, a number of mythological features were weakened or lost, but much remained. The strangeness of children was concentrated in their luminous appearance, poetically "petrified" as a formula of beauty. During the heyday of the genre, this formula became an expressive artistic feature of a fairy tale.

O. N. Trubachev reasonably remarked: "It is clear that a worthy proto-Slavon was born and died in good ignorance of these our scientific efforts, but he bequeathed to us 'his' whole self-understanding and worldview with the organizing dichotomy 'his' - 'not his'". And then:

"It turned out to be possible to read the first commandment of the Ancient Slavic social life:" know your kind!" " (Trubachev O. N. Ethnogenesis and culture of the ancient Slavs, p. 227). Delving into the problems of historical poetics of folklore, we objectively follow this commandment.

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