Internal Median Formulas of Kalmyk Fairy Tales (Evidence from G. J. Ramstedt’s Records)

The article discusses the traditional formulas of Kalmyk fairy tales. Internal median formulas are determined by corresponding plots and play a significant role in fairy-tale texts defining the main characters and summarizing their most important actions. The fairy tales recorded by G. J. Ramstedt in the early 20th century reflect the actual poetic and stylistic tradition of the Kalmyks. The texts of the fairy tales are abundant in initial, median and final formulas. Following the classification introduced by the Romanian scientist N. Rosianu, the paper examines medial formulas from the Kalmyk fairy-tale texts. Those are 1) formulas that define images of fairy-tale characters or describe objects they posses, 2) formulas describing actions of fairy-tale characters, 3) formulas from dialogues (typical expressions of certain fairy-tale characters), 4) ‘magic formulas’, 5) formulas containing elements characteristic of initial formulas. In the considered fairy tales, among the formulas that define images of fairy-tale characters or describe objects belonging to them, special attention is paid to a formula depicting the main character’s beauty who is usually a tengri - ‘inhabitant of Heaven’. Alongside this, another fairy tale contains an episode when the beauty of the heroine is associated with the fact that she was obsessed by a shulma (‘a demonic creature’). The ability of shulmas to turn into beautiful girls is reflected in demonological views of the Kalmyks. The analyzed texts primarily contain formulas that describe fairy-tale characters’ actions: formulas that indicate long journeys of heroes; formulas depicting difficult tasks; a formula that conveys dual feelings of the character; a formula depicting the motif of the hero’s visit to the other world; formulas of reward and punishment. Typical expressions of individual fairy-tale characters also act as formulas included in their dialogues. The fairy tales recorded by G. J. Ramstedt are characterized by a ‘modernization’ (according to N. Rosianu) of the authentic traditional formulas - since the storyteller uses the modern concept of time when it comes to space and paths. The ‘modernization’ process testifies of some changes that had occurred in the social and economic life of the Kalmyk people. Still, the variation of stable stylistic structures with elements of the ‘modernization’ remains within the framework of the oral tradition of Kalmyk folklore.

калмыцкий фольклор, сказка, запись, Г. Й. Рамстедт, традиционная формула, внутренние медиальные формулы

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