The Underworld of the Russian Fairy Tales: Climbing a Tree to a Bird's Nest and Returning to One’s World

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2026-1/272-292

Authors

  • Irina Denisova the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

Abstract

The article continues the author's ongoing series of works on the study of the semantics of fairy tale plots. It considers the main plot of the second part of the fairy tale SUS type No. 301 A, B ("Three Underground Kingdoms"), which is relatively independent. Using comparative materials, the author analyzes the relationships between the main components of the plot: the image of a tree and the motif of climbing it; the motif of the hero communicating with the chicks (and all its variants), which reveals the traces of mythological exchange relations of "life force"; the image of a mother bird of prey returning the hero to Earth. When analyzing the latter image at a cross-cultural level, the author reveals its probable origins, going back to the image of the “good serpent” swallowing and regurgitating the hero to help him reincarnate (according to V. Ya. Propp). Overall, this plot, in its prototype, is reconstructed as the desire of the soul of the deceased/neophyte for rebirth. The tendency toward anthropomorphizing the image of the chicks (as girls) observed when comparing motifs can be traced back to the formation of other fairy tale plot lines (the first move of the SUS 301 A, B type, and the SUS No 300 type of tales).

Author Biography

  • Irina Denisova, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

    Denisova, Irina M. — Ph.D. in History, Researcher, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russian Federation). E-mail: imiden15@yandex.ru

    For citation: Denisova, I. M. 2026. The Underworld of the Russian Fairy Tales: Climbing a Tree to a Bird's Nest and Returning to One’s World. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 1: 272–292.

    References

    Afanasieva, V. K. 1988. Lugal'banda; Shumero‑akkadskaia mifologiia [Lugalbanda; Sumer‑Akkadian Mythology]. In Mify narodov mira. Entsiklopediia [Myths of the Peoples of the World. Encyclopedia], ed. by S. A. Tokarev. Vol. 2. Moscow: Sovetskaia entsiklopediia. 75; 647–653.

    Afanasieva, V. K. 1997. Ot nachala nachal. Antologiia shumerskoi poezii [From the Beginning of Beginnings. Anthology of Sumerian Poetry]. Saint Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie. 496 p.

    Agapkina, T. A. 2005. Siuzhetnyi sostav vostochnoslavianskikh zagovorov (motiv mifologicheskogo tsentra) [Narrative Composition of East Slavic Charms (the Motif of the Mythological Center)]. In Zagovornyi tekst. Genezis i struktura [Charm Text. Genesis and Structure], ed. by L. G. Nevskaia, T. N. Sveshnikova, V. N. Toporov. Moscow: Indrik. 247–291.

    Agapkina, T. A., et al. 2004. Nagota [Nudity]. In Slavianskie drevnosti. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Slavic Antiquities. Encyclopedic Dictionary], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Vol. 3. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia. 355–360.

    Anisimov, A. F. 1959. Kosmologicheskie predstavleniia narodov Severa [Cosmological Beliefs of the Peoples of the North]. Moscow-Leningrad: AN SSSR. 106 p.

    Barag, L. D. et al. (eds). 1079. Sravnitel'nyi ukazatel' siuzhetov. Vostochnoslavianskaia skazka [Comparative Directory of Plots. East Slavic Fairy Tale]. Leningrad: Nauka. 438 p.

    Berezkin, Yu. E. 1996. Mifologiia indeitsev Latinskoi Ameriki: nebol’shaia retrospektiva nedavnikh issledovanii [Mythology of Latin American Indians: A Brief Retrospective of Recent Research]. In Amerikanskie indeitsy: novye fakty i interpretatsii [American Indians: New Facts and Interpretations], ed. by V. A. Tishkov. Moscow: Nauka. 136–152.

    Berezkin, Yu. E. 2023. Shumerskaia poema o Lugalbande i paralleli k odnomu iz ee epizodov [Sumerian Poem about Lugalbanda and Parallels to One of Its Episodes]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 6: 211–226. https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869541523060131

    Budge, E. A. W. 2009. Egipetskie skazki, povesti i legendy [Egyptian Tales, Novels, and Legends]. Moscow: Novyi Akropol’. 192 p.

    Chagdurov, S. Sh. 1980. Proiskhozhdenie Geseriady [The Origin of the Geseriada]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 272 p.

    Chernetsov, A. V. 2005. Svedeniia o yazychestve baltiiskikh narodov v vostochnoslavianskoi rukopisnoi traditsii [Information about the Paganism of the Baltic Peoples in the East Slavic Manuscript Tradition]. In Zagovornyi tekst. Genezis i struktura [Charm Text. Genesis and Structure], ed. by L. G. Nevskaia, T. N. Sveshnikova, V. N. Toporov. Moscow: Indrik. 175–193.

    Denisova, I. M. 1995. Voprosy izucheniia kul’ta sviashchennogo dereva u russkikh [Issues in Studying the Cult of the Sacred Tree among Russians]. Moscow: IEA RAN. 204 p.

    Denisova, I. M. 2013. Mifologemy vostochnoslavianskoi skazki: semanticheskii kompleks «derevo‑ptitsa‑yaitso» [Mythologemes of East Slavic Fairy Tales: The Semantic Complex “Tree‑Bird‑Egg”]. In Russkie: etnokul’turnaia identichnost’ [Russians: Ethnocultural Identity], ed. by I. V. Vlasova. Moscow: IEA RAN. 263–296.

    Denisova, I. M. 2018. V labirintakh ornamenta i vekov: semanticheskii kompleks vozrozhdeniia v russkom narodnom iskusstve [In the Labyrinths of Ornament and Centuries: The Semantic Complex of Revival in Russian Folk Art]. Moscow: Russian State University of Design and Applied Arts (Stroganov University). 142 p.

    Denisova, I. M. 2024. Podzemnyi mir russkikh skazok: obraznost’, semantika darov geroiu [The Underground World of the Russian Fairy Tales: The Imagery, Semantics of Gifts to the Hero]. Vestnik antropologii 2: 207–227. https://doi.org/10.33876/2311-0546/2024-2/207-227

    Eliade, M. 1998. Sviashchennye teksty narodov mira [Sacred Texts of the World’s Peoples]. Moscow: Kron‑press. 624 p.

    Eliade, M. 1999. Tainye obshchestva. Obriady initsiatsii i posviashcheniia [Secret Societies. Rites of Passage]. Moscow-Saint Petersburg: Universitetskaia kniga. 356 p.

    Eremina, V. I. 1991. Ritual i fol'klor [Ritual and Folklore]. Leningrad: Nauka. 208 p.

    Gemuev, I. N. (ed.). 1989. Traditsionnoe mirovozzrenie tiurkov Iuzhnoi Sibiri. Chelovek. Obshchestvo [Traditional Worldview of the Turks of Southern Siberia. People. Society]. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 243 p.

    Gimbutas, M. 2006. Tsivilizatsiia Velikoi Bogini: Mir Drevnei Evropy [The Civilization of the Great Goddess: The World of Ancient Europe]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 572 p.

    Ivanov, V. V. 1974. Vosstanovlenie pervonachal’nogo teksta ketskogo mifa o razoritele orlinykh gnezd [Reconstruction of the Original Text of the Ket Myth about the Destroyer of Eagle Nests]. In Materialy Vsesoiuznogo simpoziuma po vtorichnym modeliruiushchim sistemam [Materials of the All‑Union Symposium on Secondary Modeling Systems]. Tartu: Tartu State University. 51–64.

    Ivanov, V. V. 1993. K istorii ptich'ego mifologicheskogo eposa [On the History of Bird Mythological Epics]. In Ot mifa k literature [From Myth to Literature], ed. by S. Yu. Nekliudov, E. S. Novik. Moscow: RGGU. 21–24.

    Kabakova, G. I. 1999. Deti nekreshchenye [Unbaptized Children]. In Slavianskie drevnosti. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Slavic Antiquities. Encyclopedic Dictionary], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Vol. 2. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia. 86–88.

    Kerényi, K. 2000. Elevsin: Arkhetipicheskii obraz materi i docheri [Eleusis: The Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter]. Moscow: Refl‑buk. 288 p.

    Lurie, S. Ya. 1932. Dom v lesu [House in the Forest]. In Yazyk i literatura [Language and Literature]. Vol. 8.  Leningrad. 159–193.

    Propp, V.  Ya. 1946. Istoricheskie korni volshebnoi skazki [Historical Roots of the Fairy Tale]. Leningrad: LGU. 340 p.

    Propp, V.  Ya. 1969. Morfologiia skazki [Morphology of the Fairy Tale]. Moscow: Nauka. 168 p.

    Safronov, V. A. 1989. Indoevropeiskie prarodiny [Indo‑European Homelands]. Gor’kii: Volgo‑Viatskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo. 398 p.

    Sagalaev, A. M. 1990. Ptitsa, daiushchaia zhizn’ [The Bird That Gives Life]. In Mirovozzrenie finno‑ugorskikh narodov [Worldview of Finno‑Ugric Peoples], ed. by I. N. Gemuev. Novosibirsk: Nauka. 21–34.

    Sobolev, A. N. 2000. Mifologiia slavian. Zagrobnyi mir po drevnerusskim predstavleniiam [Slavic Mythology. The Afterlife According to Old Russian Beliefs]. Saint Petersburg: Lan’. 272 p.

    Tolstaia, S. M. 2004. Moloko; Odezhda [Milk; Clothing]. In Slavianskie drevnosti. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Slavic Antiquities. Encyclopedic Dictionary], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Vol 3. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia. 284–288; 523–533.

    Tolstoi, N. I. 1995. Grad; Grom [Hail; Thunder]. In Slavianskie drevnosti. Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’ [Slavic Antiquities. Encyclopedic Dictionary], ed. by N. I. Tolstoi. Vol 1. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia. 535–537; 558–560.

    Toporov, V. N. 1967. K rekonstruktsii mifa o mirovom yaitse (na materiale russkikh skazok) [To the Reconstruction of the Myth on World Egg (Based on Russian Fairy Tales)]. Uchenye zapiski Tartuskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta 198: 81–99.

    Toporov, V. N. 1995. Iz "russko-persidskogo' divana. Russkaia skazka 301 A, V [From “Russian-Persian” Divan. Russian Fairy Tale 301 A, V]. In Etnoiazykovaia i etnokul'turnaia istoriia Vostochnoi Evropy [Ethno-Linguistic and Ethno-Cultural History of Eastern Europe], ed. by V. N. Toporov. Moscow: Indrik. 142–200.

    Zelenin, D. K. 1937. Totemy‑derev’ia v skazaniiakh i obriadakh evropeiskikh narodov [Tree Totems in Legends and Rites of European Peoples]. Moscow-Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR. 77 p.

Downloads

Published

13.03.2026

Issue

No. 1 (2026): Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik antropologii)

Section

Funeral Rites and the Underworld