A man is a frequent hero of Russian folk tales. This character is found in fairy tales about animals ("Tops and roots)", and in everyday ones ("About need", "The gentleman and the man"), and in magic ("Ivan, the peasant's son"). There is a special category of works that merge with epics and legends. A striking example of such a tale is Nikita Kozhemyaka.

A man in Russian folk tales

The image of a peasant peasant in folk tales

Whatever the genre of the work, the image of a man has characteristic features:

• Relative poverty... A man is not necessarily completely indigent. He may be quite well-to-do. But in any case, he is poorer than a priest, master or merchant, not to mention the king. That being said, poverty is usually a virtue. More precisely, this quality is characteristic of a positive character. If there are two peasants, a rich and a poor, figure in a fairy tale, the narrator's sympathies will be on the side of the second.
• Lawlessness... A man, even a rich man, is at the very bottom of the social ladder. Everything for him is power, before everyone he is powerless.
• Lack of education... A man only knows that around him - his village and the nearest city, where he goes to fairs. The rest is familiar to him only by hearsay, often in a distorted form. He is naive and often falls prey to a cruel joke or deception.

But it was not in vain that the man became one of the key characters in the folk tale. He compensates for his disadvantaged position with personal qualities.

• Natural mind... The man may be uneducated, but he has practical acumen and common sense. And for this reason alone, he can gain the upper hand in a dispute with the priest, and with the tsar, and with the landowner. In "Tops and Roots" a man cannot cope with a stupid but strong and greedy bear, so he deceives him.
• Justice... Even trying to get out of a difficult situation, the man does not deceive the disadvantaged and does not offend the weak. The victims of his jokes, albeit sometimes evil ones, are only those who deserve such an attitude. In the fairy tale "About poverty" a man steals horses from the master. But the master is not rich because he worked hard. He is a slacker, profiting from someone else's labor, at the same time stupid and indifferent. And the peasant not only took the troika away, he showed the master what need is - that is, he put him in a position equal to his own.
• Hard work... In folk tales, especially everyday ones, much attention is paid to the difficult peasant labor. A man works from dawn to dusk, without complaints or reproaches.
• Generosity and mercy... To share the last crust of bread with the needy, to give the last crutch to the destitute is a common plot move in Russian folk tales. The main character, who finds himself in a difficult situation, is often helped by a poor peasant, not a boyar or a priest. The plot of the fairy tale "Ivan, the peasant's son" is just such a plot: the peasant disinterestedly helps the wounded eagle, nurses him.

At the same time, the folk tale does not idealize the peasant. Often the peasant is cowardly, apprehensive - this is a consequence of his hard life. In many fairy tales, the peasant's exceptional poverty is explained by his own stupidity and impracticality. A pronounced feature of the character of this character is the naive dream of instant wealth without much effort. A classic example is the fairy tale "By the Pike's Command." Emelya was lazy and stupid, but he caught a magic pike, and his life changed. He became rich, intelligent, handsome, almost omnipotent and married a princess. For people who worked hard day in and day out, such a dream of a magical helper who would simply give happiness was the only way to brighten up a difficult life.

But all these flaws only make the character more human. The man in fairy tales is the salt of the earth, the one on whom the state is supported, albeit a fabulous one. And when trouble comes, he rises with his chest to defend the fatherland. The man does it without joy - he is peaceful and does not like to fight. But he will not give the enemy a descent either. Nikita Kozhemyaka, Ilya Muromets - come from the peasant class. For us, contemporaries, a folk tale may seem too simple, naive, even somewhat absurd. But she is always sincere. This is how people who lived many centuries ago saw the world. The Russian peasant is outwardly modest. This is not a hero in shining armor. But he lives, fights and wins - the way he can.

A poor peasant lived in one village; he lived to the point that he had only one sheep and two pumpkins left. Once he lies on the stove and thinks: "I have neither bread, nor flour, can I sell a sheep?" I got off the stove, got dressed, tied the lamb on a rope and took it to the market to sell.

He walks past his church; a priest comes across to him and asks: "Where did you take the lamb?" - "Sell, father." - "Sell me?" - "Buy." - "What are you asking for?" - "Fifty rubles." - "What is very expensive?" - "Why, father, the sheep is not easy: one can cope with a dozen wolves." - "Well, good!"

The priest gave the money to the peasant and took the lamb home. Suddenly the sheep saw two wolves, ran, overtook, the rope and fell off, and the wolves grabbed it and ate it. The priest put pressure on him, gasped, and said: "If the string hadn't broken, the sheep would not have succumbed to the wolves!"

I came home and said to the priest: "Well, uterus, I bought a lamb!" - "Oh well. Did you give a lot? " - "Fifty rubles." - "What hurts expensive?" - “Yes, the lamb is not easy: one can cope with a dozen wolves.” - “Okay, we will let her go hunting, she will push the wolves to us,

And I'll wear wolf coats for you. " - "Yes, I have a misfortune." - "What?" - “And when I was leading the lamb, she saw two wolves, she wanted to throw herself at them, but the rope fell off, she succumbed to them, the wolves ate her ...” - “Oh, oh, father! ..”

They gave a cry, they gave a cry, but there was nothing to do.

And the peasant, having received money for the lamb, bought flour and baked bread, sat down on a bench and thought: “Now I have bread, only there is no salt. I'll go and cut two pumpkins, sell them and buy myself some salt. "

I cut two pumpkins, put them in a basket and went to sell. He walks past the church, meets him again, the priest comes across and asks: "Where, little man, have you gone?" - "To the city." - "Why?" - "Sell foal's eggs." - "Sell me." - "Buy." - "How much do you ask?" - "Ten rubles." - "What is expensive?" - "Yes, what foals will sit out!" - "And you teach me how to sit them out."

"And when you come home, put the eggs in the pestle and sit on them - in a month they will hatch from you."

I gave the priest money to the peasant, took the pumpkins and went home. He comes home and tells the priest how he bought the foal's eggs and what to do with them in order to hatch the foals. Priadya gave him a pestle and told him to put it on the bed. Here the priest sat down; sits for a day, sits for two, sits for a week, does not leave the pestle and thinks: "Soon my foals will hatch."

It happened that at that time a son was born to the master, and the master sent his coachman to the priest to come and give the baby a name. The coachman comes to the priest and asks the priest: "Where is the father?" - "What do you need?" - "The son of a master was born, so you need to give him a name." - "He sits on the eggs on the bed." The coachman went up to the fields and said: “Father! Our master has a son, so go give him a name. ”-“ I won’t go! ” answered the pop angrily. "Please, father!" “I told you: I won’t go, I won’t go! Because of your master, I won’t lose my foals. ”

The priest never went to see the master.

The coachman comes to the master and says that the priest is not coming. Then the master took the whip and went on his own. He comes to the priest and says: “Father! Give my son a name! " “I told you I’m not going,” answered the priest. "Please, father!" - "Go to hell with your son!" shouted the pop. Here is the master and let's whip him with a whip. The priest spun and shuddered for a long time, finally he became unbearable, jumped off the bed, grabbed his pestle and, holding it as he sat on it, rushed into the field, and the master with the whip followed him.

The priest ran to the garden, and in this place, near the garden, a heap of brushwood was piled on which two hares were sitting. And the priest wanted to climb over the garden, but he touched the pestle for the stake; the pestle remained on the stake, but the priest fell on the brushwood. The hares got scared and jumped out, and the priest thought they were his foals and chased after them. Runs after them and shouts: “Hoo-hoo! Foals, I am your uterus! "

The hares fled into the forest; the priest ran for a long time through the forest, could not find his foals and returned home empty-handed.

Sly man

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(Russian folktale)

The man went to the forest to sow turnips. Plows and works there. A bear came to him:

- Man, I'll break you.

- Don't break me, bear, let's sow turnips together. I'll take at least some roots for myself, and I'll give you the tops.

- Be so, - said the bear. - And if you deceive, then at least do not go to the forest to me.

He said it and went to Dubrova.

The turnip grew large. A man came in the fall to dig a turnip. And the bear crawls out of Dubrova:

- Man, let's share the turnips, give me my share.

- Okay, bear, let's share: you tops, my roots.

The man gave the bear all the tops. And he put the turnip on the cart and took it to the city to sell.

A bear meets him:

- Man, where are you going?

- Food, bear, to sell roots to the city.

- Let me try - what is the spine?

The guy gave him a turnip. How did the bear eat:

- Ah! - roared. - Man, you deceived me! Your roots are sweet. Now don't go to my forest for firewood, or I'll break it.

The next year the peasant sowed rye in that place. I came to reap, and the bear is waiting for him:

- Now, man, you will not deceive me, give me my share.

The guy says:

- Be so. Take, bear, roots, and I'll take myself at least tops.

They collected rye. The man gave the roots to the bear, and put the rye on the cart and took it home.

The bear fought, fought, could not do anything with the roots.

He got angry with the peasant, and since then the bear and the peasant have become enmity.

One poor peasant had no bread. So he decided to ask the master for bread. To have something to go to the master, he caught a goose, roasted it and carried it. The master took the goose and says to the peasant:

Thank you, man, for your goose; I just don’t know how we will divide your goose. Here I have a wife, two sons and two daughters. How can we divide a goose without offense?

The guy says:

I will share.

He took a knife, cut off his head and said to the master:

You are the head of the whole house - you are the head.

Then he cut off the back, serves it to the lady.

You, - he says, - to sit at home, to look behind the house - you have a back.

Then he cut off the paws and serves them to his sons.

You, - he says, - legs - trample paternal tracks.

And he gave wings to his daughters.

You, - he says, - will soon fly out of the house, here's a wing for you. I'll take the leftovers for myself!

And he took all the goose.

The master laughed, gave the peasant bread and money.

The rich peasant heard that the master rewarded the poor peasant with bread and money for a goose, roasted five geese and carried it to the master.

Barin says:

Thanks for the geese. Yes, here I have a wife, two sons, two daughters - all six. How can we divide your geese equally?

The rich man began to think and did not come up with anything.

The master sent for the poor peasant and ordered to share.

The poor man took one goose and gave it to the master and the lady and says:

There are three of you with a goose.

He gave one to his sons:

And you, - he says, - three.

He gave one to his daughters:

And there are three of you.

And he took two geese for himself.

A + A-

Smart man - Russian folk tale

A tale about a savvy poor man who knew how to divide everything in fairness and not offend himself!

Smart guy read

In one village there lived two peasants: one was rich, and the other was poor. A rich man has plenty of everything, and a poor man has many children, but only one goose is good.

And it got to the point that the poor man had nothing to feed his children with. What are you going to do here? I thought and thought about what to do, what to feed the children with, and thought:

Fry, mistress, goose!

They roasted the goose, put it on the table, but there is not a crumb of bread. The man says:

Well, how will we eat without bread, how long will it last? I'd better take the goose to the master, I'll ask him for bread.

Go, hubby, go, - says the wife, - maybe at least half a bag of flour will give.

The man came to the master:

I brought you a single file, do not disdain to accept, but give me at least a little flour - there is nothing to feed the children with.

Well, okay, - the master says. - You knew how to give a goose, be able to divide it between us without offense.

If you share it without offense, I will order you to reward, but if you fail, I will whip it.

And that master's family: he and his wife, two sons and two daughters - only six.

The man asked for a knife and began to divide the goose. First he cut off his head, gives to the master:

You are the head of the whole house - so here's a goose head for you.

Cut off the tail, serves the lady:

You sit at home, look behind the house - here's your tail.

Cut off the paws, serves to the sons:

Here is your leg - to trample your father's tracks.

And he gave his daughters wings:

You will not live with your father, with your mother - you will grow up, fly away, build your nest.

He took the rest for himself. And the peasant is gray and stupid - I have to gnaw on the lump.

The master laughed:

Well, man, he divided the goose and himself did not remain offended!

He brought a glass of wine and ordered to give two sacks of flour to the poor peasant.

The rich man heard about it, envied the poor man. He roasted five fat geese, brought the master, bows himself:

Do not disdain, your grace, to take five fed geese for a bow from me!

Thank you brother, thank you! You managed to give geese, manage to share your gift between us without offense. If you divide without offense - I will reward, but if you fail to divide - I will have you flogged in the stable.

A rich man is standing there, calculating this and that - there is no way he can divide five geese between six people.

The master called the poor man:

Can you divide five geese between us without offense?

Why not divide! - the poor man answers.

Serves one goose to the gentleman and the lady:

There are two of you - here's a goose for you. Now there are three of you.

He gave another goose to his two sons:

And now there are three of you.

The third is served to two daughters:

And there are three of you.

He took the other two geese:

And there were three of us. No one is offended.

The master laughed:

Well, well done, man! He knew how to divide, and did not forget himself!

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