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Tosheva D.M. a 1st year student of Master degree "Linguistics (English) " department Karshi State University
FEATURES OF BRITISH NATIONAL FOLKLORE (BASED ON FOLK
TALES)
Annotation. The choice of the project topic is determined by the relevance of studying folklore from different countries (in our case, British folk tales). In English lessons, we study the grammatical structure of the language and the basic vocabulary, but it is important to have an idea about the culture of another people who speak this language. Schoolchildren are not familiar with the literary heritage of the British, namely folk tales, so the idea came up to create a product that would introduce students of our school to the oral folk art of Great Britain and, of course, would broaden their horizons in this matter.
Key words: British folklore, artistic culture, British fairy, mythological traditions.
The culture of the people is embedded in folklore. It expresses the perception of the people and reflects their worldview. Folklore has its roots in ancient times and is the basis of the artistic culture of any nation. The work in the field of folklore studies seems important to us, since it is in folk art that the basic moral and ethical values of the nation are laid down, what can be called its "soul". Today, when we live in the age of technology and the globalization of all mankind, the appeal to the roots of certain peoples, to the folk culture itself, is becoming important.
Speaking about the creation of British fairy tale folklore, it should be noted that Celtic folklore and mythological traditions played an important role here. It was from there that the fairy tale drew its plot, amazing imagery, and fabulous fiction. It is believed that the main and important Celtic monument preserved in written form is the Irish saga. There are amazing mythological inserts in it. It tells about the arrival of a certain goddess Danu on the misty islands. It is in the saga that the first features of the fabulous tradition of Great Britain begin to manifest themselves. With the appearance of the saga, the juxtaposition of two opposite worlds is shown: the world of the gods, which later turned into the world of people and a special "other", which should be located beyond the sea, ocean or deep under water.
Female characters play a special role in mythology. They have magical abilities, use strong magic and possess unusual magical items. The characters are distinguished by their human likeness. As for zoomorphism (animal-like), it occurs as a result of the imposition of further strong spells.
In the text of the fairy tale itself, which eventually stood out from the Celtic myth, some changes occur over time. Thus, moral and ethical elements begin to emerge. The text begins to talk about the norms of correct behavior. Magic powers are completely transferred from the character to some object. The objects themselves then begin to act independently of the main character himself. As for other changes, the role of everyday life in fairy tales is beginning to strengthen. We can even see the daily routine of heroes in fairy tales. So, in the fairy tale "The Haughty Princess" - "The Haughty Princess" tells about certain monetary units -guineas, and in the fairy tale "The Fish and the Ring" - "Fish and a ring" such money as crowns appear.
There are also fairy tales with a double plot. These include such fairy tales as: "The Red Ettin" or "The Fish and the Ring". However, there are also fairy tales where the number of moves is tripled, i.e. in the text there is a repetition of some action many times. This happens, for example, in the fairy tale "Jack and the Beans talk". However, such cases are not frequent.
As for the main types of heroes in fairy tales, they are either giants, who are inherently stupid and hostile, or elves, who love to listen to music and dance. They are cute, but cunning, as, for example, in the fairy tale "The Haughty Princess". Great importance in fairy tales is given to natural spirits, mermaids who deal with magic. In fairy tales, they are given the role of certain patrons.
The main character in the fairy tale narrative is expressed in the form of a poor peasant, or a hardworking farmer, an experienced hunter or a modest fisherman. As for animals as actors, they are not mentioned so often, and appear mainly in human form. This happens, for example, in the fairy tale "Jack and the Beans talk". However, unusual images can sometimes be used, for example, a raven in the fairy tale "The Red Ettin" or an interesting image of a footman in the fairy tale "The Haughty Princess".
The awesomeness of folk tales is certainly indicated by their special names, where the names of the main characters of foggy Albion are mostly used. The name could have been influenced by one person: "The red Ettin" - a negative character, or several heroes, as in the fairy tale: "Lazy Beauty and Her Aunts" -the main character and magical patron, or maybe several at once - "The Cock, the Mouse and the Little Red Hen". The title may also reflect the nickname - "The Haughty Princess", as a result of which the reader can pay attention to an absolutely important individual trait of the main character himself. In the fairy tale "The Source at the End of the World", "The well at the world's End" shows the place where the stepdaughter is sent by a non-native mother, and in the fairy tale "The Fish and the Ring" the necessary objects are used that greatly influenced the fate of the heroine of the fairy tale herself.
Another important element in fairy tales is the category of space. It seems to the reader vague, as in the fairy tale "Lazy Beauty and Her Aunts". The spatial division itself is vertical, since there is a lower world of mysterious and sometimes
evil spirits, the world of people, and the uppermost one is connected with the almighty gods.
In British fairy tales, the hero's house is vividly shown. Here he begins his amazing journey with many adventures. The "other" place is also shown. The brave hero gets there during his difficult and dangerous searches either on foot or sitting on horseback. This world can be a dense forest, as in the fairy tale "The Red Ettin" or an air cloud: "Jack and the Beans talk". It is the house or castle of the negative character that will be the center of the space. It is there that long searches will take place, deadly battles will unfold and the necessary knowledge or objects will be obtained. In fairy tales there is no description or division of individual types of space. This eventually leads to the blurring of the boundaries between them. Over time, new places of action that are not peculiar to the fairy tale appear: a market square and a large kitchen in the royal castle in the fairy tale "The Haughty Princess". These images bring an element o f some reality from real life into the fairy tale.
As for the legend, it is not a genre of fairy-tale folklore. This work is already based on real events. Heroes certainly have great power, some superhuman abilities. It is they who help them out and contribute to the establishment of justice. In other words, the legends tell about the exploits of wonderful heroes and describe in a fantastic way what took place in reality many years ago.
So, we see that legend and fairy tale are literary genres and exaggeration and imagery are used in them, as well as miraculous transformations occur. However, there are obvious differences in them. The main difference between them is that the legend reflects reality, history and real people. The basis here is a kind of real story, retold allegorically. But a fairy tale is a fiction, where everything happens in a fairy-tale world and magic is used. In a fairy tale for children, good should always defeat evil, which is not in the legend. There is no division into genres in it, but only in terms of content - utopian or Christian. Reading a fairy tale, the child has fun, while after reading the legend, serious reflections occur and certain conclusions are drawn. In a fairy tale, a strict construction must certainly be shown: the beginning, then the trials and a wonderful good ending, which cannot be said about the legend, where the plot is generally simple.
The chosen topic of the article is undoubtedly relevant, because fairy tales have been common at all times. The British fairy tale tradition is represented by a rich heritage of folklore plots and images filled with the British spirit, wonderful adventures and magical events. We saw that British folklore has its roots in Celtic mythology, but also has a kinship with European folklore. The article shows that fairy tales embody the richness of the national language and were compiled in accordance with the traditions of writing works of this genre.
Based on eight folk tales of Great Britain, which formed the methodological basis of our project, we tried to study and analyze the features of
British national folklore, namely the uniqueness of both the composition and vocabulary of folk tales.
The result of the article was a set of colorful postcards dedicated to British folk tales. This, in our opinion, is an understandable and accessible set for study and understanding, will undoubtedly broaden the horizons of students in this matter.
References:
1. English folk tales. Compilation and translation by N.V. Shereshevskaya. - M.: "Art. lit", 1957. - 208s.
2. Vedernikova N.M. Russian folk tale. - M.: Nauka, 1975. - 136c.
3. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia - wikipedia.org
4. A brief literary encyclopedia in 9 volumes. - Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1962-1978. A short literary encyclopedia
5. Pomerantseva E.V. The fate of the Russian fairy tale. - M.: Nauka Publishing House, 1965. - 220s.
6. Poetics: words. Actual terms and concepts. - M.: Kulagina Publishing House; Intrada, 2008. - 358s.
