Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (FAIRY TALES)

Description

The Kalmyks have a rich fairy-tale tradition. Fairy-tales were composed by tuulchi, or story tellers, who lived in great numbers in Kalmykia until the mid-20th century.In the study of Kalmyk folklore there is a convention to divide fairy-tales into the following genres: magical, heroic, every-day fairy-tales and those about animals.Although many Kalmyk fairy-tales are universal, they have their specificity stemming from the nomadic lifestyle, traditions, worldviews and history of the Kalmyks. In terms of story length, which correlates with the number of events in a given fairy-tale, Kalmyk fairy-tales are divided into 'long' (ut tuul') and 'short fairy-tales' (ahr tuul'). Magical and heroic fairy-tales usually belong to the former category, with everyday fairy-tales and those about animals to the latter.Many fairy-tales start with stories originating in the real world – for example, at the khan’s court or in the steppe – and then shift to the afterlife or to other worlds, such as th