Article

Name: Fairy Tale “Stones of Mteulety” by A. Remizov and The Image of Mountain Spirit-Giant

Authors: H. А. Sahakyan

Vanadzor State University, Vanadzor, Republic of Armenia

In the section The Plot in Literature and Folklore

Abstract:

The fairy-tale “Stones of Mteulety” by A. Remizov is an author’s fairy tale created on the basis of a folklore plot recorded in the Caucasus in the in 1915, and was first published in 1916 in the magazine “Ogonek” (“Spark”). A. Remizov related this fairy-tale to Georgian fairy- tales.

Despite the noticeable influence of literary legends, A. Remizov retained the folkloric basis that reveals the ideas of the primitive man about the process of the soul’s transition “to that world”, to “the other world”.

The image of a crystal mountain is often found in Russian fairy tales. The mountain is inhabited by a snake, whose name “Gorinich” (means “son of the Mountain”). The entrance to the “other kingdom”, which continually opens for several minutes, is in this mountain.

In the tale “Stones of Mteulety” by A. Remizov the mountain-spirit acts as the master of the mountain. It is this mountain spirit that controls the rockfall and shuts the door between the kingdoms.

Both the motif of matchmaking and the motif of death, as the kidnapping of the soul, can be revealed in an abduction. The motifs of abduction are disclosed both in world folklore and in the religious beliefs of different peoples. In early folkloric texts, the function of abduction is assigned to representatives of the animal world, chthonic and supernatural beings, which do not have a human appearance, and still preserve the nature of the animal-glutton.

When analyzing the motif of abduction, the characters of the “hero snake-fighters” Artavazd and Amirani from Armenian and Georgian mythology, chained in the mountain caves, were also analyzed. It is established that the functions of the Snake are typical of the characters of Armenian and Georgian mythology, of vishaps and devs, in particular, whose appearance and multi-headedness also draws obvious parallels with the Snake.

The analysis of the Snake-eater and its appearance leads to the notions of the Snake-abductor and of death as abduction.

When analyzing the topic of the rockfall in the mountains in Remizov’s author fairy-tale, one reveals the features of a love abduction, which is one of the types of death in folklore and mythology. In the final scene of A. Remizov’s fairy-tale “Stones of Mteulety”, the mountain spirit-giant, who fell in love with the shepherdess Nina, kills her in order to connect with her in the world of the dead.

Thus the features of the motif of the abducted beauty are revealed in A. Remizov’s author fairy-tale “Stones of Mteulety” and this motif genetically goes back to the most ancient notions of death.

Keywords: Caucasian fairy tales, mountain spirit-giant, lonely (white) soul, bustling mountains, Snake-snatcher, Snake-eater, motive of abduction

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