Russian Fairytales

Every people has its own original culture and history. Folklore is an important cultural characteristic that reflects folk wisdom and the experience of previous generations. Russian fairytales present a fountain of wisdom from the Russian people. Reading fairytales is one of the sources of exploring the world for little children. Fairytales do not only create a magical world with fantastic creatures, they also teach us moral principles and values. Russian fairytales often present animals as the main heroes. Behind animals’ behavior we see human characters and behavior.  That’s why fairytales have an allegorical form of narration. In Russian fairytales the fox is sly and cunning, the bear is strong but clumsy, often silly and gullible, the wolf is mean, naïve and simple-hearted. Featuring human relationship through these characters makes fairytales interesting and relevant in our daily lives. Russian fairytales were also written by some of Russian poets and writers. The XIXth century poet Aleksandr Pushkin is famous for his original fairytales. We can recall his “Fairytale about Tsar Saltan”, “Fairytale about the Golden Cock”, and “Fairytale about a Fisherman and a Fish”. Russian fairytales have a whole range of set fairytale expressions like «Жили-были…» (“Once upon a time”), «Долго ли, коротко ли…» (“No one knows whether it was after a long or short while”),  and «Ни в сказке сказать, ни пером описать» (“More than words can tell”). Russian fairytales can open a whole world of rich Russian culture, Russian mentality, and Russian values.