The Motif of the Assistant in Kalmyk Fairy Tales for the Plot “Stepmother and Stepdaughter”

Introduction. Fairy tales on the relationship between a stepmother and a stepdaughter are widely distributed internationally and are represented by several plot types of the Aarne-Thompson index. The universal plot acquires its own characteristics at the level of a motif. Results. The analysis of the texts of Kalmyk fairy tales on the plot of “Stepmother and stepdaughter” showed that the motif of the magical assistant is plot-forming. A cow appears as a wonderful helper of an orphan in Kalmyk fairy tales. The cow acts as the patroness of a girl doomed to orphan hood and a hard life. V. Y. Propp notes that in a number of fairy tale versions, this cow is nothing more than the girl’s deceased birth mother. In fairy tales, the stepmother forces the orphan to graze cows, gives her difficult assignments. Based on the material of various oral traditions, it can be noted that a wonderful cow helps a stepdaughter to perform the tasks of a stepmother. In Kalmyk fairy tales there is no motif of the difficult task of the stepmother, but it should be noted that the wonderful cow, in addition to the function of an assistant, also acquires the function of a donor after her death, providing food and outfits. In Kalmyk fairy tales in addition to the wonderful cow, there is also a donor who puts the heroine to the test. The old woman and the woman in the considered fairy tales, according to V. Ya. Propp, are assistants, thanks to whom the transfiguration of the heroine (T) takes place. According to the functions of the actors V. Ya. Propp, the woman who stuck the sun and moon on her cheeks, and the old woman on whose head fruits grow, also belong to the category of assistants, but with the functions of a donor who tests the heroine before transforming her (in the above texts, endowing with beauty, outfits and jewelry). Along with the cow, they can be attributed to mythological assistants. It should be noted that in Kalmyk fairy tales on the plot of “Stepmother and Stepdaughter”, the orphan’s assistants are also people: childless old people and the heroine’s husband himself. It can be noted as a feature that in Kalmyk fairy tales based on the plot “Stepmother and Stepdaughter”, the motif of the assistant is realized on two levels: mythological, when an animal and wonderful donors help, and profane, when childless old men and the heroine’s husband come to her aid

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