Tales of the peoples of Eastern Siberia. Russian fairy tales of Siberia of the Far East: magical

There lived a badger. He slept during the day and went hunting at night. One night a badger was hunting. He had not had time to get enough, and the edge of the sky had already brightened.

Before the sun, a badger hurries to get into its hole. Without showing himself to people, hiding from the dogs, he walked where the shadow is thicker, where the earth is blacker.

The badger approached his dwelling.

Hrr ... Brr ... - he suddenly heard an incomprehensible noise.

"What's happened?"

Sleep jumped out of the badger, the hair stood on end, the heart almost broke the ribs with a knock.

"I've never heard such noise..."

Hrrr... Firrlit-fue... Brrr...

“Hurry, I’ll go back to the forest, I’ll call clawed animals like me: I alone don’t agree to die here for everyone.”

And the badger went to call all the clawed animals living in Altai for help.

Oh, I have a terrible guest sitting in my hole! Help! Save!

Animals came running, their ears drooped to the ground - in fact, the earth trembles from the noise:

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

All the animals' hair stood on end.

Well, badger, this is your house, you go first and climb.

The badger looked around - ferocious animals were standing around, urging, hurrying:

Go, go!

And they themselves tucked their tails in fear.

The badger's house had eight entrances and eight exits. "What to do? - thinks the badger. - How to be? Which entrance to your house to penetrate?

What are you standing for? - Wolverine snorted and raised her terrible paw.

Slowly, reluctantly, the badger wandered to the very main entrance.

Hrrrr! - took off from there.

The badger jumped back, hobbled to another entrance-exit.

Of all eight exits, it rumbles.

The badger began to dig for the ninth move. It's a shame to destroy your home, but you can't refuse - the most ferocious animals from all over Altai have gathered.

Hurry, hurry! - order.

It's a shame to destroy your home, but you can't disobey.

Sighing bitterly, the badger scratched the ground with its clawed front paws. Finally, a little alive with fear, he made his way to his high bedroom.

Hrrr, brrr, frrr...

Lounging on a soft bed, it was a white hare snoring loudly.

The animals could not stand on their feet with laughter, they rolled on the ground.

Hare! That's the hare! The badger was scared of the hare!

Ha ha ha! Ho-ho-ho!

From shame, where can you hide now, badger? What an army he gathered against the hare!

Ha ha ha! Ho-ho!

And the badger does not raise his head, he scolds himself:

“Why, when you heard a noise in your house, didn’t you look there yourself? Why did he go to the whole Altai to shout?

And know the hare sleeps and snores.

The badger got angry, but how he shoves the hare:

Go away! Who let you sleep here?

The hare woke up - his eyes almost popped out! - and the wolf, and the fox, lynx, wolverine, wild cat, even sable are here!

“Well,” the hare thinks, “come what may!”

And suddenly - jump badger in the forehead. And from the forehead, as from a hill, - again lope! - and into the bushes.

The badger's forehead turned white from the white hare belly.

From the hind hare paws there were white marks on the cheeks.

The animals laughed even louder.

Oh, barsu-u-uk, how beautiful you have become! Ho ha ha!

Come to the water, look at yourself!

The badger hobbled to the forest lake, saw his reflection in the water and cried:

"I'm going to complain to the bear."

Came and says:

I bow to you to the ground, grandfather bear. I ask you for protection. I myself was not at home that night, I did not invite guests. Hearing loud snoring, he was frightened ... How many animals he disturbed, he destroyed his house. Now look, from the hare's white belly, from the hare's paws - and my cheeks turned white. And the culprit fled without looking back. Judge this matter.

Are you still complaining? Your head used to be black as the earth, and now even people will envy the whiteness of your forehead and cheeks. It's a shame that I didn't stand in that place, that the hare didn't whiten my face. That's a pity! Yes, it's a pity...

And with a bitter sigh, the bear left.

And the badger still lives with a white stripe on his forehead and on his cheeks. It is said that he is accustomed to these marks and is already boasting:

That's how the hare tried for me! We are now friends forever and ever.

Well, what does the hare say? Nobody heard this.

Literary processing A. Garf.

A red fox came running from the green hills into the black forest. She has not yet dug a hole for herself in the forest, but she already knows the news of the forest: the bear has become old.

Ai-yay-yay, woe-trouble! Our elder, the brown bear, is dying. His golden coat has faded, his sharp teeth have become dull, and there is no former strength in his paws. Hurry, hurry! Let's get together, think about who in our black forest is smarter than everyone, more beautiful than everyone, to whom we will sing praise, whom we will put in a bear's place.

Where nine rivers joined, at the foot of nine mountains, a shaggy cedar stands above a swift spring. Beneath this cedar, beasts from the black forest gathered. They show their fur coats to each other, they boast of their intelligence, strength, and beauty.

The old bear also came here:

What are you making noise? What are you arguing about?

The animals fell silent, and the fox raised its sharp muzzle and squealed:

Ah, venerable bear, be ageless, strong, live a hundred years! We are arguing and arguing here, but we can’t solve things without you: who is more worthy, who is more beautiful than everyone?

Everyone is good in their own way,” the old man grumbled.

Ah, the wisest, yet we want to hear your word. Whom you point to, the animals will sing praise to him, they will put him in a place of honor.

And she herself spread her red tail, prettier her golden hair with her tongue, smoothes her white breast.

And then the animals suddenly saw a deer running in the distance. With his feet he trampled the top of the mountain, branched horns led a trail along the bottom of the sky.

The fox has not had time to close its mouth yet, but the maral is already here.

His smooth coat did not sweat from his fast run, his elastic ribs did not come in more often, warm blood did not boil in his tight veins. The heart beats calmly, evenly, big eyes quietly shine. He scratches his brown lip with a pink tongue, his teeth turn white, he laughs.

The old bear slowly got up, sneezed, extended his paw to the deer:

Here's who is the most beautiful.

The fox bites its own tail out of envy.

Do you live well, noble deer? she sang. - It can be seen that your slender legs have weakened, there was not enough breathing in your broad chest. Insignificant squirrels are ahead of you, the bow-legged wolverine has long been here, even the sluggish badger managed to arrive before you.

Maral lowered his branchy-horned head low, his shaggy chest swayed and his voice sounded like a reed pipe.

Dear fox! Squirrels live on this cedar, a wolverine slept on a nearby tree, a badger has a hole here, behind a hill. And I passed nine valleys, swam nine rivers, crossed nine mountains ...

The deer raised his head - his ears are like flower petals. The horns, dressed in a thin pile, are transparent, as if poured with May honey.

And you, fox, what are you fussing about? - angry bear. “Did you think of becoming an elder yourself?”

I beg you, noble deer, take a place of honor.

And the fox is here again.

Oh ha ha! They want to choose a brown deer as an elder, they are going to sing praises to him. Ha ha, ha ha! Now he is handsome, but look at him in winter - his head is hornless, horned, his neck is thin, his hair hangs in tatters, he walks crouched, staggers from the wind.

Maral found no words in response. I looked at the animals - the animals are silent.

Tales of the peoples of the North

The book you are holding in your hands is a collection of fairy tales. These are fairy tales of different peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East, living on a vast territory from the western to eastern borders of the Soviet Union, from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka.

Downtrodden and backward in the past, in our country the peoples of the North are surrounded by attention and care. They created a unique culture, including rich oral folk art - folklore. Fairy tales are the most common genre of folklore.

A fairy tale brightened up the difficult existence of people, served as a favorite entertainment and recreation: they usually told fairy tales at their leisure, after a hard day. But the fairy tale also played an important educational role. In the recent past, fairy tales among the peoples of the North were not only entertainment, but also a kind of school of life. Young hunters and reindeer herders listened and tried to imitate the heroes who were glorified in fairy tales.

Fairy tales paint vivid pictures of the life and life of hunters, fishermen and reindeer herders, introduce them to their ideas and customs.

The heroes of many fairy tales are the poor. They are fearless, dexterous, quick-witted and resourceful (the Nenets tale "The Master and the Worker", the Udege - "Gadazami", the Even - "The Resourceful Shooter" and others).

Fairy tales feature various elements of magic, prophetic forces (as, for example, in the Ket fairy tales “The Small Bird” and “Alba and Khosyadam” or in the Chukchi fairy tale “The Almighty Katgyrgyn”), spirits are the masters of the elements (underwater kingdom, underground and heavenly worlds). , spirits of water, earth, forest, fire, etc.) (for example, in the Selkup fairy tale "The Mistress of the Fire", Oroch - "The Best Hunter on the Coast", Nivkh - "White Seal"), death and revival (for example, in Evenk fairy tale "How kites were defeated").

An important place in the folklore of the peoples of the North is occupied by fairy tales about animals. They explain the habits and appearance of animals in their own way (the Mansi tale “Why does the hare have long ears”, the Nanai - “How the bear and the chipmunk stopped being friends”, the Eskimo - “How the raven and the owl painted each other”), they talk about the mutual assistance of man and beast (the Mansi tale "The Proud Deer", the Dolgan - "The Old Fisherman and the Raven", the Nivkh - "The Hunter and the Tiger").

The main idea of ​​the tale is simple: there should be no place on earth for suffering and poverty, evil and deception should be punished.

Dear friend! Read this book thoughtfully, slowly. When you read a fairy tale, think about what it is about, what it teaches. As the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: “A fairy tale is a fairy tale, but you draw a conclusion from a fairy tale.” So you think about what conclusion can be drawn from each fairy tale you read.

In the book you will meet words that you may not know. They are marked with an asterisk and you will find an explanation of them at the end of the book. These are mainly the names of household items, household utensils, clothing of various peoples of the North.

Read fairy tales slowly, as if you were telling them to your friends or younger brothers and sisters.

Look carefully at the illustrations for fairy tales. Think about what episode of the fairy tale they belong to, what kind of drawing you would draw for this or that fairy tale. Pay attention to the ornament, clothing, household items of different peoples.

We wish you success!

There lived a poor woman. And she had four children. The children did not obey their mother. They ran and played in the snow from morning to evening, but did not help their mothers. They will return to the chum, they will drag whole snowdrifts on pims, and take the mother away. The clothes will be wetted, and the mother will be sushi. It was difficult for the mother. From such a life, from hard work, she fell ill. Lies in the plague, calls the children, asks:

Kids, give me water. My throat was dry. Bring some water.

Not once, not twice, the mother asked - the children do not go for water. Senior says:

I am without pims. Another says:

I am without a hat. The third one says:

I am without clothes.

And the fourth one doesn't answer at all. Their mother asks:

The river is close to us, and you can go without clothes. It dried up in my mouth. I am thirsty!

And the children ran out of the tent, played for a long time, and did not look at their mother. Finally, the older one wanted to eat - he looked into the chum. He looks: the mother is standing in the middle of the plague and putting on a malitsa. Suddenly the little girl was covered with feathers. The mother takes a board, on which the skins are scraped, and that board becomes a bird's tail. The thimble became an iron beak. Wings grew instead of arms.

The mother turned into a cuckoo bird and flew out of the tent.

Then the elder brother shouted:

Brothers, look, look: our mother is flying away like a bird!

The children ran after their mother, shouting to her:

Mom, mom, we brought you some water! And she replies:

Coo-coo, coo-coo! Late, late! Now the lake waters are in front of me. I fly to free waters!

The children run after their mother, they call her, they hold out a bucket of water.

The youngest son cries:

Mom mom! Come back home! For some water, drink!

The mother answers from afar:

Coo-coo, coo-coo! Too late, son! I will not return!

So the children ran after their mother for many days and nights - over stones, over swamps, over bumps. They cut their legs into blood. Where they run, there will be a red trace.

The cuckoo mother abandoned her children forever. And since then, the cuckoo has not built a nest for itself, has not raised its own children. And from that time on, red moss spreads along the tundra.

TALA THE BEAR AND THE GREAT WIZARD

Tala-bear got into the habit around the camp to stagger at night. He walks quietly, does not give a voice, lurks behind the stones - he waits: whether the stupid deer will fight off the herd, whether the puppy jumps out of the camp, whether the child.

Siberia is not only rich in snow...

The peoples of the North and Siberia created a unique culture, including rich oral folk art - folklore. The most common genre of folklore are fairy tales…

We bring to your attention the tales of the peoples who inhabited the Siberian land for many centuries, and left their mark on history.

We also want to introduce you to Siberian and Novosibirsk storytelling writers, whose work continues the best traditions of Russian fairy tale literature.

Children of the beast Maana: fairy tales of the peoples of Siberia about animals / artist. H. A. Avrutis. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 1988. - 144 p. : ill.

“In ancient times, the miracle beast mother Maana lived in Altai. She was like a century-old cedar, big. She walked through the mountains, descended into the valleys - nowhere did she find an animal similar to herself. And she's already starting to get old. I will die, - thought Maany, - And no one in Altai will remember me, everyone will forget that great Maany lived on earth. If only someone was born to me ... "

Tales of the peoples of Siberia about animals teach children to be kind and attentive to the world around them.

6+

Russian fairy tales of Siberia / comp. T. G. Leonova; artistic V. Laguna. - Novosibirsk: West Siberian Book Publishing House, 1977. - 190 p. : col. ill.

Russian people have been living in Siberian places for a very long time - since the conquest of Siberia by Yermak. At the same time, the history of Russian folklore began here - oral folk art.

This book is a selection from Russian fairy tales of Siberia, from all that fabulous wealth that for centuries was passed down by people from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, and so it came to our days.

12+

Siberian fairy tales / recorded by I. S. Korovkin from A. S. Kozhemyakina. - 2nd ed., add. - Novosibirsk: West Siberian Book Publishing House, 1973.- 175 p.

Folk poetic creativity of the Omsk region is diverse and rich. A lot of great fairy tale experts live there.

One of the best storytellers in the Omsk region was a resident of the village of Krasnoyarskoye, Omsk region, Anastasia Stepanovna Kozhemyakina (born 1888). Forty fairy tales have been written down from her.

A. S. Kozhemyakina herself began to tell fairy tales about fifteen years old. “At first she told the girls and boys,” the storyteller recalled, “when she became a woman, she told her nieces and all the inhabitants of the village.” She took over most of the tales from her mother and told them, it seems, in the same way as she had once heard: she rarely changed anything in them, even more rarely added anything from herself.

The fairy tale repertoire of Kozhemyakina is not only great, but also diverse. The storyteller told both heroic, and magical, and adventurous, and everyday tales.

6+

Tales of the peoples of Siberia / comp.: E. G. Paderina, A. I. Plitchenko; artistic E. Gorokhovsky. - Novosibirsk: West Siberian Book Publishing House, 1984. - 232 p. : ill.

The collection includes the best fairy tales of Siberia: Altai, Buryat, Dolgan, Mansi, Nenets, Selkup, Tofalar, Tuva, Khakass, Khanty, Shor, Evenki, Yakut animal tales, fairy tales.

One of the compilers of the collection - Alexander Ivanovich Plitchenko - our countryman, poet, writer, translator of the Altai and Yakut epos.

Tales of the peoples of Siberia / comp. G. A. Smirnova; per. in English. the language of O. V. Myazin, G. I. Shchitnikov; artistic design by V. V. Egorov, L. A. Egorova. - Krasnoyarsk: Vital, 1992. - 202 p: ill.

“Do you want to know why the animals are different from each other and why the Raven is black and not white?

Why don't lions live in Siberia now, and why does the Bear have no thumb?

Or about what kind of fire the Falcon kindled in the sky, how the Ant went to visit the Frog, and the little Komarik defeated the evil spirit Chuchunna?- this is how the compiler of this book of fairy tales and legends about various animals, birds, insects inhabiting the taiga and tundra addresses the little reader.

A very attractive gift edition of the book of fairy tales of the peoples of Siberia, with colorful illustrations and page-by-page translation into English.

Belousov, Sergei M. Along the rainbow or Pechenyushkin's Adventures: a story - a fairy tale / S. M. Belousov. - Novosibirsk: Nonparel, 1992. - 240 p. : ill.

Who is Pechenyushkin? Amazing creature! Once he was an ordinary Brazilian monkey named Pichi-Nyush and saved his friend from a terrible death. As a reward, the gods endowed him with limitless magical properties, and most importantly, a heightened sense of justice. And for many centuries, Pechenyushkin, like a knight without fear or reproach, has been fighting evil in all its manifestations.

About the adventures of this mischievous character, the Novosibirsk writer Sergei Belousov wrote a fairy-tale trilogy, which opens with the story "Along the Rainbow, or the Adventures of Pechenyushkin." The two most ordinary schoolgirl sisters live in the most ordinary Novosibirsk apartment and do not even realize that a magical rainbow leads directly to their balcony. Rainbow, traveling along which they will fall into the magical land of Fantasilla and help Pechenyushkin defeat the Villain in the silver hood.

For middle school age.

Belousov, Sergei M. The Death Pot, or the Return of Pechenyushkin: a fairy tale story / S. M. Belousov; artistic N. Fadeeva. - Novosibirsk: Esby, 1993. - 304 p. : ill.

This is the second book in the fairy tale trilogy about Pechenyushkin, a monkey endowed with limitless magical powers. Sisters Alyona and Lisa Zaikin reveal the insidious plan of kartomors - dangerous creatures generated by people.

Fleeing from these terrible little men, the sisters again find themselves in the magical land of Fantasilla.

Now the fate of the Earth is in the hands of two girls and Pechenyushkin, who will save his friends from all hardships.

Belousov, Sergei M. The heart of the dragon, or a journey with Pechenyushkin: a fairy tale story / S. M. Belousov. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 1996. - 368 p.

For four months now, the inhabitants of Fantasilla have not made themselves felt. Anticipating a great misfortune, the Zaikin sisters decide to take a desperate step: secretly break into a fairy-tale land to the rescue. Here, their worst fears come true: an evil will has surrounded Fantasilla. Who and how set up the conspiracy, where did Pechenyushkin disappear to, and who is that mysterious lady in black who appears to the inhabitants of the country at night? To find answers to these questions and unravel the great mystery, the sisters will have to travel back in time...

The final part of the trilogy about the adventures of the Great Warrior of Justice Pechenyushkin.

Magalif, Yuri Mikhailovich. Magic horn or the adventures of Gorodovich: a fairy tale story / Y. Magalif. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 1993. - 79 p.

Yuri Magalif dedicated this fairy tale story to the 100th anniversary of Novosibirsk.

Three talented and enthusiastic people worked on the image of Gorodovichka-Nikoshka - it was invented by Vladimir Shamov, the City inventor, the book was written by the most famous Siberian writer-storyteller Yuri Magalif, and the wonderful Novosibirsk artist Alexander Tairov drew it.

Y. Magalif: “Gorodovichok is a famous character who has become a symbol of Novosibirsk. The child who reads this book will know what the city was like. What was here at this place before the city began to be built. And what is interesting today?

Magalif, Yuri Mikhailovich. Zhakonya, Kotkin and others / Yu. M. Magalior. - Novosibirsk: West Siberian Book Publishing House, 1982. - 125 p. : ill.

The book includes well-known fairy tales of the famous Siberian storyteller Yuri Magalif - "Zhakonya", "Tiptik", "Kotkin the Cat", "Bibishka - Glorious Friend", "Success-grass".

“The tales of Magalif were the tales of the twentieth century. The wonders of technology that entered the world of people coexist peacefully on these pages with witches, talking birds, fairies and kikimors. Childhood sees the world of things alive, breathing, animated. And in Magalif the storyteller, things and mechanisms speak, sad, think, rejoice and take offense just like we ourselves - and there is no need to argue with this.

I read all the fairy tales of Yuri Magalif, and if I regret anything, it’s that I’m not small and that these fairy tales, so festively illustrated, were not among the others in my childhood. Vladimir Lakshin.

• * * *

Books by City Inventor Vladimir Shamov

written in a peculiar fairy tale style,

designed for family reading Novosibirsk

and very well suited for adults to read to children.

12+

Shamov, Vladimir V. Catherine's secret / V. V. Shamov; artistic L. V. Treshcheva. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 1995. - 78 p. : tsv.ill.

Like all capitals, Novosibirsk has its own secrets associated with its birth.

One of them is about the love of Obinushka and the first builder Ivanushka. The lady of Obskaya also told another legend - about Katerina, the ruler of the Ob Underwater Kingdom. Many pages are devoted to the conquest of Siberia by Ermak, to how the Russians advanced to these places.

12+

Shamov, Vladimir V. Legendary placers: fantastic time travel / V. V. Shamov; artistic L. V. Treshcheva. - Novosibirsk: Book publishing house, 1997. - 141 p. : ill.

The reader will travel to the sixteenth century, during the time of Ermak Timofeevich, the Cossack ataman, who annexed the Siberian lands to Rus' in the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The mysterious story of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich also attracts attention. After reading this book, you can learn about the remarkable man Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov - cartographer, architect, chronicler. It tells about the origin of the names Zaeltsovsky forest, Bugrinskaya grove, Zatulinka. And also - the address of Gorodovichka is offered, where you can write a letter to him.

6+

Shamov, Vladimir V. Novosibirsk fairy tales / V. V. Shamov; artistic E. Tretyakova. - 2nd ed., add. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 2003. - 144 p. : tsv.ill.

Small fascinating tales introduce the history of Novosibirsk, some of its wonderful residents, and city sights.

As in previous books by V. Shamov,

here operates the beloved Gorodovichok.

6+

Shamov, Vladimir V. Ob legend / V. V. Shamov. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house: Foundation of the century of Novosibirsk, 1994. - 55 p. : ill.

“... do you know, dear reader, that there is a palace in the depths of every major river? And that these palaces are not similar to each other, like the rivers themselves ... River queens live in the palaces of these queens, unfading beauties, in whose eyes the entire depth of the rivers lurks ... "- this is how the Ob Legend begins - the first book by Vladimir Shamov from a series of books about the history of our city. Obinushka is the queen of the river, the mistress of the great river Ob. It is she who tells about the events of the spring of 1893, when the construction of the bridge across the Ob began. From her legend, you can learn about the first builder Ivanushka, about that. how he dreamed of seeing Novosibirsk, how he wanted future residents to love their city ...

12+

Shamov, V. V. Fountains over the Ob: a tale about the future, present and past / V. V. Shamov; artistic E. Tretyakova. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk book publishing house, 2005. -220 p.: ill.

Vladimir Shamov wrote a book of time travel.

Its main characters live in 200-year-old Novosibirsk.

“God created the chipmunk with stripes, and released the hare with a split lip…

And the people argued, laughed and answered with their ironic tales:

- No, the chipmunk became striped because the grandfather bear stroked it.

- No, the hare's upper lip split in two from the fact that he laughed a lot. Remember when he scared the sheep?

The people dreamed of conquering the forces of nature and expressed their dream in wonderful tales. So, Evenki women made iron wings for the boy, and he rose on these wings to the clouds. One woman in the Khanty camp wove a wonderful towel, on which her husband swam across the sea. And in Altai, the hero Sartakpai built bridges over turbulent rivers, laid roads and even tried to make lightning illuminate the earth at night.

Many interesting epics and fairy tales were composed by the peoples of Siberia. From these works, scientists learn about the life of the people, their ancient ideas about the world, their dreams and hopes.

A. M. Gorky called fairy tales and epics of the peoples of Siberia pearls, advised to collect them and study them.

But before the October Socialist Revolution, these works were almost unknown to the Russian reader.

During the years of Soviet power, under the leadership of the Communist Party, as we have already seen, the life of the peoples of Siberia has been radically changed. Along with all the peoples of our homeland, they themselves began to govern their own socialist state - the fraternal Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. All the peoples of Siberia have their own autonomous Soviet socialist republics, autonomous regions or national districts. With the fraternal help of the great Russian people, all the nomadic peoples, having created collective farms, switched to a settled life. They replaced the smoky and cold yurt with a light and warm house. In the taiga, trading stations and hunting and fishing stations were built for hunters. There are roads everywhere. Cars came to the most remote areas. Tractors have raised centuries-old virgin soil. Factories and plants have been built in the national republics and regions. All peoples have their own written language, and illiteracy has been eliminated. Doctors, engineers, agronomists, candidates and doctors of science appeared. Poets, writers and playwrights grew up. Their voices are heard throughout the country. Their books have been translated into Russian and published in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and other cities. The peoples of Siberia show the best works of art to the working people of our homeland from the stage of Moscow theaters.

On the advice of Alexei Maksimovich Gorky, the writers lovingly and carefully collected "pearls of folk art." From folk singers and storytellers, they recorded oral works of art - epics, songs, fairy tales.

Many wonderful Russian fairy tales have been recorded in Siberia. They were published in Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. Therefore, we print here only the tales of those peoples whose work is little known. It will be interesting for the Russian reader to get acquainted with what his talented neighbors have created over the centuries.

The stories in our book are different. Some of them are published in the form in which they were recorded by Russian writers from storytellers, others are printed in literary processing, others belong to the pen of writers, but they were created according to folk motives. The basis for all the fairy tales included in this collection is the same - folk art, folk wisdom.

There are fairy tales composed under the Soviet regime. They are the joy and happiness of the people. There are also old tales about the fight against beys and khans. Young, brave, strong people, boys and girls, enter this struggle. They fight for joy and freedom for all working people. Sometimes they win thanks to their heroic strength, sometimes thanks to their intelligence and resourcefulness. Truth and victory are always on their side. It was the expression of a dream of a free life. The people realized their beautiful dream.

There are old tales about conquering the forces of nature. In the distant past, this was a bold dream. In our time, the dream has come true: roads have been built, iron birds carry a person over long distances with the speed of sound, lightning serves people, our astronauts in miracle ships master the space that separates the Earth from its neighbor Moon, numerous "seas" created by Soviet people, changed the geography of the country.

Just yesterday, bold dreams were called fabulous. Today the fairy tale has been turned into a reality by the labor of the people.

Afanasy Koptelov.

ALTAI TALES

SARTAKPAY

In Altai, at the mouth of the Ini River, the hero Sartakpai lived. His scythe is all the way to the ground. Eyebrows are like a thick bush. The muscles are knotty, like a growth on a birch - at least cut cups of them.

Not a single bird has yet flown past Sartakpai's head: he fired without a miss.

The hoofed animals running far away were always accurately beaten by Sartakpai. He aimed deftly at the clawed beasts.

His archemaks were not empty (archemaks are leather bags thrown over the saddle). Fat game was always strapped to the saddle. The son of Aduchi-Mergen, having heard the pace of the pacer from afar, ran out to meet his father in order to unsaddle his horse. Daughter-in-law Oimok prepared eighteen game dishes and ten milk drinks for the old man.

But the famous hero Sartakpai was not happy, he was not cheerful. Day and night he heard the cry of the Altai rivers squeezed by stones. Rushing from stone to stone, they were torn to shreds. Crushed into streams, bumping into mountains. Sartakpai was tired of seeing the tears of the Altai rivers, tired of listening to their unceasing groans. And he decided to give way to the Altai waters to the Arctic Ocean. Sartakpai called his son:

“You, child, go south, and I will go east.”

Aduchi-son went to Mount Belukha, climbed to where the eternal snow lies, began to look for ways for the Katun River.

The hero Sartakpai himself went east, to the fat lake Yulu-Kol. With the index finger of his right hand, Sartakpai touched the bank of the Yulu-Kol - and the Chulyshman River flowed after his finger. All passing streams and rivers, all ringing springs and underground waters rushed into this river with a cheerful song.

But through the joyful ringing, Sartakpai heard weeping in the mountains of Kosh-Agach. He stretched out his left hand and with his index finger drew a furrow through the mountains for the Bashkaus River. And when the waters laughed, running away from Kosh-Agach, the old man Sartakpai laughed along with them.

- It turns out that I can also work with my left hand. However, it is not good to do such a thing with the left hand.

And Sartakpai turned the river Bashkaus to the hills of Kokbash and then poured it into Chulyshman and led all the waters with one right hand down to the slopes of Artybash. Here Sartakpai stopped.

Tales of the peoples of the North

The book you are holding - storybook. These are fairy tales of different peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East, living on a vast territory from the western to eastern borders of the Soviet Union, from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka.

Downtrodden and backward in the past, in our country the peoples of the North are surrounded by attention and care. They created a unique culture, including rich oral folk art - folklore. Fairy tales are the most common genre of folklore.

A fairy tale brightened up the difficult existence of people, served as a favorite entertainment and recreation: they usually told fairy tales at their leisure, after a hard day. But the fairy tale also played an important educational role. In the recent past, fairy tales among the peoples of the North were not only entertainment, but also a kind of school of life. Young hunters and reindeer herders listened and tried to imitate the heroes who were glorified in fairy tales.

Fairy tales paint vivid pictures of the life and life of hunters, fishermen and reindeer herders, introduce them to their ideas and customs.

The heroes of many fairy tales are the poor. They are fearless, dexterous, quick-witted and resourceful (the Nenets tale "The Master and the Worker", the Udege - "Gadazami", the Even - "The Resourceful Shooter" and others).

Fairy tales feature various elements of magic, prophetic forces (as, for example, in the Ket fairy tales “The Small Bird” and “Alba and Khosyadam” or in the Chukchi fairy tale “The Almighty Katgyrgyn”), spirits are the masters of the elements (underwater kingdom, underground and heavenly worlds). , spirits of water, earth, forest, fire, etc.) (for example, in the Selkup fairy tale "The Mistress of the Fire", Oroch - "The Best Hunter on the Coast", Nivkh - "White Seal"), death and revival (for example, in Evenk fairy tale "How kites were defeated").

An important place in the folklore of the peoples of the North is occupied by fairy tales about animals. They explain the habits and appearance of animals in their own way (the Mansi tale “Why does the hare have long ears”, the Nanai - “How the bear and the chipmunk stopped being friends”, the Eskimo - “How the raven and the owl painted each other”), they talk about the mutual assistance of man and beast (the Mansi tale "The Proud Deer", the Dolgan - "The Old Fisherman and the Raven", the Nivkh - "The Hunter and the Tiger").

The main idea of ​​the tale is simple: there should be no place on earth for suffering and poverty, evil and deception should be punished.

Dear friend! Read this book thoughtfully, slowly. When you read a fairy tale, think about what it is about, what it teaches. As the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote: “A fairy tale is a fairy tale, but you draw a conclusion from a fairy tale.” So you think about what conclusion can be drawn from each fairy tale you read.

In the book you will meet words that you may not know. They are marked with an asterisk and you will find an explanation of them at the end of the book. These are mainly the names of household items, household utensils, clothing of various peoples of the North.

Read fairy tales slowly, as if you were telling them to your friends or younger brothers and sisters.

Look carefully at the illustrations for fairy tales. Think about what episode of the fairy tale they belong to, what kind of drawing you would draw for this or that fairy tale. Pay attention to the ornament, clothing, household items of different peoples.

We wish you success!

There lived a poor woman. And she had four children. The children did not obey their mother. They ran and played in the snow from morning to evening, but did not help their mothers. They will return to the tent, they will drag whole snowdrifts of snow on pims, and take the mother away. The clothes will be wetted, and the mother will be sushi. It was difficult for the mother. From such a life, from hard work, she fell ill. Lies in the plague, calls the children, asks:

Kids, give me water. My throat was dry. Bring some water.

Not once, not twice, the mother asked - the children do not go for water. Senior says:

I am without pims. Another says:

I am without a hat. The third one says:

I am without clothes.

And the fourth one doesn't answer at all. Their mother asks:

The river is close to us, and you can go without clothes. It dried up in my mouth. I am thirsty!

And the children ran out of the tent, played for a long time, and did not look at their mother. Finally, the older one wanted to eat - he looked into the chum. He looks: the mother is standing in the middle of the plague and putting on a malitsa. Suddenly the little girl was covered with feathers. The mother takes a board, on which the skins are scraped, and that board becomes a bird's tail. The thimble became an iron beak. Wings grew instead of arms.

The mother turned into a cuckoo bird and flew out of the tent.

Then the elder brother shouted:

Brothers, look, look: our mother is flying away like a bird!

The children ran after their mother, shouting to her:

Mom, mom, we brought you some water! And she replies:

Coo-coo, coo-coo! Late, late! Now the lake waters are in front of me. I fly to free waters!

The children run after their mother, they call her, they hold out a bucket of water.

The youngest son cries:

Mom mom! Come back home! For some water, drink!

The mother answers from afar:

Coo-coo, coo-coo! Too late, son! I will not return!

So the children ran after their mother for many days and nights - over stones, over swamps, over bumps. They cut their legs into blood. Where they run, there will be a red trace.

The cuckoo mother abandoned her children forever. And since then, the cuckoo has not built a nest for itself, has not raised its own children. And from that time on, red moss spreads along the tundra.

TALA THE BEAR AND THE GREAT WIZARD

Tala-bear got into the habit around the camp to stagger at night. He walks quietly, does not give a voice, lurks behind the stones - he waits: whether the stupid deer will fight off the herd, whether the puppy jumps out of the camp, whether the child.

However, no matter how you hide, but traces in the snow remain. The mothers saw those footprints, they said to the children:

Do not ride late in the moonlight from the hill! Tala bear is close. He grabs him, takes him to his stupid place, takes him to dinner.

The moon has risen, and naughty children are still rolling down the hill.

Tala-bear crawled out from behind a stone, opened his bag - kitty, set it across the road, and lay down further away.

The guys rolled down the hill and flew into the bear bag!

He grabbed Tal’s bag, put it on his shoulders, goes home, rejoices: “I’m carrying a full kitty of guys! Let's eat deliciously!"

He walked, walked, got tired, hung the bag on a spruce branch, he lay down under the tree and snored.