The plot of the Koryak tale about mice suspended from a tree: genesis and ethnographic context

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of one of the popular plots of the Itelmen-Koryak folklore. The focus of the study is the tale about mice that were caught in pants and hung on the tree. According to the classification of E. Berezkin and Duvakin, the plot motif of this tale is L42J “The tree bends (children in the ogre’s bag).” Consideration was given to 21 versions of the tale recorded from 1901 to 2017 from the Itelmen and Koryaks of Kamchatka. The Koryak narrative tradition allows the narrator to present the folklore text in his own way. With the main line of the plot preserved, the episodes sometimes are expanded, indicating not so much the peculiarities of the local tradition as the individual narrative style of the narrator, his authorial activity, and even his life position. The analysis of different variants of the tale about mice clearly demonstrates the evolution of the plot that is part of the Big Raven cycle. The archaic anecdotal nature of the narrative is replaced by edification. Alogical episodes based on tricks of the trickster are lost. Specification of episodes changes according to the new reality. The system of character interaction is changing. Though not being typical of archaic folklore tradition, the elements of psychologism start to appear. At the same time, modern recordings of folklore texts sometimes retain archaic narrative elements, once formed as a result of figurative interpretation of natural phenomena, traditional way of life, or ritual practices.