У царині казки

Чи Ви задумувались, друзі, над красою, чарівливістю української народної казки – однієї із найцікавіших, найсвоєрідніших казок у світі? Вчитайтесь в українські казки – і незмірно збагатите своє мовлення чудовими, дотепними висловами, словесними образами, сміховинками, зрозумієте глибинну ментальність рідного народу. Полиньмо ж у цей чарівний світ! (Р.Зорівчак)

Folklore reveals wisdom, traditions, history, humour, sadness from long ago to the present. Like water and air, fairy-tales help us to sense the freshness of the morning time and the sky. They fire our imagination, carry us away, giving reality to our utmost bluedreams. While working at the fairy tales student get to know the bygone history, come to see the soal of people, their intention, mode of life, on the one hand, and master English on the other hand.

The students make sure that eternal categories of Good and Evil, Wisdom and Ignorance, Courage and Strength are at work in the fairy-tales. Belief in Victory and happy days to come permeates these stories, develops and moves the plot. Good finally triumphs, Virtue is rewarded, Evils are punished. The in-depth analysis of the fairy-tales convince students that theses texts possess the categories of information, completeness, linear representation, integrity, reoccurrence, implication and discretion. The distinctive feature of fairy-tales is that of imaginary invention. Their time (a) and place indicators (b) are unreal.

Cf. a) Once upon a time, in the days gone by there was once upon a time, long ago, a dunnamany years ago, many a night after, once morning;
b) lived in the sea, lived in the forest, lived in the North country, from far and near, there, at the World’s end, miles from anywhere, from halfway round the world.
The names of characters go back to common nouns of different semantic volume:

a) the names of birds, animals, living beings – Black Bull, Goldfrish, Mouse, Sheep, Owl;

b) the name of temporal unite – Night, Day, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, October,
November, Friday;

c) nominations of manner of life – Mr.Peck, Mrs.Peck, Dane Dreary, Lady Littlecare, Mr.Shilling, Mr.Cupboardosity;

d) nonce units – Mr.Leo Pard. Mrs. Fairy Heels-o-Lead, Mrs.Fairy Flea-Foot, Mr. So-and-so, Mr.Certainpersonic.

The characters may be identified by their social position. Cf.:

There lived a kind woman, there lived somewhere a man, there was once a very rich gentleman, there was once upon a time long ago, a beautiful lady, there once dwelt an aged peasant.

Mysterious creatures excite, captivate, children and adult alike. Under the magic spell of the fairy tales the students make a fascinating journey into the never-never country, where they gat information, both important and enjoyable. The great dread of animals people once had is marvelously revealed in fabled beings which until now keep the decorative and imaginary power. The fable beings were incredibly invented by blending a bird and a horse (Pegasus), a dog and a snake (Cerberus), a man and a beast (Centaur), a horse and a goat (Unicorn), a bird and a woman (Siren), a fish and a woman (Mermaid), a woman and a lion (Sphinx).

Some fairy characters have gained a great popularity. Among them immortal adventures of Alice are known all over the world. Peter Pan has gone into the proverb as the boy who would not grow up. Slavonic Baba Yaga is a dreaded ogress, magician who lives in a small hut perched on four chicken legs. This frightfully old woman captures and cooks children in a pot. She flies through the air in a large mortar steered with a pestle. She isn’t on friendly terms with Koshchey the Deathless, a very rich, wicked old man who knows the secret of eternal life. Ivanushka the Simpleton seems lazy and foolish but, in fact, intelligent, resourceful and energetic. The Hero (Indian tales character) protects woman, children from harm, steps between men and nature. The Hero is a opposed by negative characters the Trickster and the Trickster-Hero, embodying greediness, disorder and chaos.

While on the read of the fairy-tales students pay their utmost attention not only to the development of the plot but also to the luxury and beauty of the language. The beauty of language is apparent in the magic string of epithets and metaphors (a), hyperboles (b) and understatements (c).

Cf.: a) glassy hills, wood mantling slopes, a goodlier man, times rolled on, weeks grew into moths, and months into years, years passed away like smoke, and many a sad yearning glance did she cast towards the sea;

b) miles from anywhere, the sea was made of storybooks, to surpass the sun, to marry the moon, dunnamuch talk, his head piercing the clouds, a basketful of children;
c) he was the tiniest wee specimen of humanity imaginable. His coat was made of birch leaves and he wore upon his head a helmet which consisted of gorse flower while his feet were encased in pumps made of beetle’s wings.

Folklore is wedded to beauty since the times immorial. To our greatest regret folklore has ceased to be an everyday force. Nowadays people do miss the light the folklore shed on human ideas, optimistic vision and enduring hope.

The in-depth analysis of the fairy-tales proves that these texts possess the categories of information, completeness, linear representation, integrity, reoccurrence, implication and discretion. The distinctive feature of fairy-tales is that of imaginary invention.

Mysterious creatures excite, captivate both children and adult. Under the magic spell of the fairy-tales the students make a fascinating journey into the never-never country, where they get information both important and enjoyable.