Arys-field is a Russian folk tale. Children's fairy tales online Bedtime story about a lynx field

Afanasyev's tale: Arys-field

The old man had a beautiful daughter, he lived with her quietly and peacefully until he married another woman, and that woman was an evil witch.
She did not love her stepdaughter and pestered the old man: “Drive her out of the house so that I don’t even see her.”
The old man went ahead and married his daughter to a good man; She lives with her husband and rejoices and bore him a boy.
And the witch gets even more angry, envy gives her no peace; She seized the time, turned her stepdaughter into the beast Arys-Pole and drove her into the dense forest, and dressed her own daughter in her stepdaughter’s dress and substituted her instead of her real wife.
She did everything so cunningly that neither her husband, nor people, no one sees the deception.
Only the old mother was the only one who realized it, but she’s afraid to say it. From that day on, as soon as the child gets hungry, his mother will carry him to the forest and sing:

Arys-field! The child is screaming, the child is screaming, wants to eat and drink.
The field arys will come running, throw its skin under the log, take the boy, feed him; Then he will put on the skin again and go into the forest.
“Where does this mother and child go?” - the father thinks.
He began to look after her; I saw Arys-Polye come running, take off her skin and begin to feed the baby.
He crept up from behind the bushes, grabbed the skin and burned it. “Oh, something smells like smoke; there’s no way my skin is burning!” - says Arys-field.
“No,” the mother answers, “it’s probably the woodcutters who set the forest on fire.”
The skin burned, Arys-field took on its former appearance and told everything to her husband.
People immediately gathered, grabbed the witch and burned her along with her daughter.

Russian folk tales

The Russian folk tale "Arys-Field" is a short tale about a girl whose father remarried and whose stepmother really disliked her stepdaughter. When her stepdaughter had a child, her stepmother turned her into the animal Arys-Pole and drove her out into the forest, and dressed her daughter up instead of her and no one noticed except the old mother. And when the child wanted to eat, the old mother carried him to the forest, called Arys to the field and she came running to feed him. One day the husband decided to trace where the mother was carrying the child - he saw everything, burned the skin of Arys-Pole and everything returned to normal, and the evil stepmother was punished.

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The old man had a beautiful daughter, he lived with her quietly and peacefully until he married another woman, and that woman was an evil witch. She didn’t love her stepdaughter and pestered the old man:

Drive her out of the house so that I don’t even see her. The old man went ahead and married his daughter to a good man; She lives with her husband and rejoices and bore him a boy.

And the witch gets even more angry, envy gives her no peace;

She seized the time, turned her stepdaughter into the beast Arys-Pole and drove her into the dense forest, and dressed her own daughter in her stepdaughter’s dress and substituted her instead of her real wife.

She did everything so cunningly that neither her husband, nor people, no one sees the deception. Only the old mother was the only one who realized it, but she’s afraid to say it.

From that day on, as soon as the child gets hungry, his mother will carry him to the forest and sing:

Arys-field! The child is screaming, the child is screaming, wants to eat and drink.

The field arys will come running, throw its skin under the log, take the boy, feed him; Then he will put on the skin again and go into the forest.

“Where does this mother and child go?” - the father thinks. He began to look after her; he saw Arys-field come running, throw off her skin and begin to feed the baby.

He crept up from behind the bushes, grabbed the skin and burned it.

Oh, something smells like smoke; No way, my skin is on fire! - says Arys-field.

No,” the mother answers, “it’s probably the woodcutters who set the forest on fire.”

The skin burned, Arys-field took on its former appearance and told everything to her husband.

People immediately gathered, grabbed the witch and burned her along with her daughter.

Still, it’s nice to read the fairy tale “Arys-Field” even for adults; childhood is immediately remembered, and again, like a little one, you empathize with the characters and rejoice with them. Of course, the idea of ​​the superiority of good over evil is not new, of course, many books have been written about it, but it’s still nice to be convinced of this every time. The plot is simple and as old as the world, but each new generation finds in it something relevant and useful. The text, written in the last millennium, combines surprisingly easily and naturally with our modern times; its relevance has not diminished at all. Having become familiar with the inner world and qualities of the main character, the young reader involuntarily experiences a feeling of nobility, responsibility and a high degree of morality. The works often use diminutive descriptions of nature, thereby making the picture presented even more intense. The inspiration of everyday objects and nature creates colorful and bewitching pictures of the surrounding world, making them mysterious and enigmatic. The fairy tale “Arys-Field” is definitely worth reading for free online; it contains a lot of kindness, love and chastity, which is useful for raising a young individual.

The old man had a beautiful daughter, he lived with her quietly and peacefully until he married another woman, and that woman was an evil witch. She didn’t like her stepdaughter and pestered the old man:
- Get her out of the house so I don’t see her.
The old man went ahead and married his daughter to a good man; She lives with her husband and rejoices and bore him a boy.
And the witch gets even more angry, envy gives her no peace; She seized the time, turned her stepdaughter into the beast Arys-Pole and drove her into the dense forest, and dressed her own daughter in her stepdaughter’s dress and substituted her instead of her real wife.
She did everything so cunningly that neither her husband, nor people, no one sees the deception.
Only the old mother was the only one who realized it, but she’s afraid to say it.
From that day on, as soon as the child gets hungry, his mother will carry him to the forest and sing:
Arys-field! The child is screaming
The child is screaming and wants to eat and drink.
The field arys will come running, throw its skin under the log, take the boy, feed him; then he will put on the skin again and go into the forest.
“Where does this mother and child go?” - the father thinks. He began to look after her; I saw Arys-Polye come running, take off her skin and begin to feed the baby.
He crept up from behind the bushes, grabbed the skin and burned it.
- Oh, something smells like smoke; No way, my skin is on fire! - says Arys-field.
“No,” the mother answers, “it’s probably the woodcutters who set the forest on fire.”
The skin burned, Arys-field took on its former appearance and told everything to her husband.
People immediately gathered, grabbed the witch and burned her along with her daughter.

Russian fairy tales are very ancient works, created in the era of pan-Slavic unity, when our neighbors called our ancestors Wends (2nd century BC - 4th century AD). Fairy tales conveyed the image of a developed barbarian society, well known to us from the Irish and Scandinavian sagas, the poems of Homer and Greek myths. Russian fairy tales open a window into the world of distant ancestors.

Fairy tales did not appear by themselves - every fairy tale had an author. Some tales were performed among the nobility and people for entertainment, while others were created for instruction. Tales for teaching were created in a priestly environment, because the main thing in them was not the adventures of the heroes, but the virtues of the heroes. Typically, the plot of such tales is built around the various misadventures of the main character, who overcomes troubles thanks to pagan virtues - obedience to the gods and tribal laws. In the finale, the hero defeats his enemies with the help of higher powers and receives a reward in the form of a happy life. If in the fairy tales “Vasilisa the Beautiful” and “Morozko” the main characters were virtuous maidens, then in the fairy tale “Arys-Field” the main character is a virtuous mother. It should not be surprising that women appear to be virtuous in fairy tales. For men, clan society made other demands, mainly military ones.

The fairy tale "Arys-Field" has come to us with great losses. Apparently, she was not popular, because popular fairy tales were overgrown with details, details, and dialogues. From "Arys-Field" only the core plot has been preserved. But in this form, the fairy tale is interesting for its motifs of black magic, werewolf, and substitute wife, which themselves are very ancient and go back to the times of the Indo-European community.

The old man had a beautiful daughter, he lived with her quietly and peacefully until he married another woman, and that woman was an evil witch. She didn’t love her stepdaughter and pestered the old man: “Get her out of the house so I don’t even see her.”.

Modern image of Arys-field. Incorrect.

A comment. The beginning is traditional: the father, having become a widower, married again. The new wife turned out to be a witch. This moment was lost in the fairy tale "Morozko", but was preserved in "Arys-Field". The fact that the sorceress was evil gives us the right to assume that the new wife was not a Slav, because a sorcerer would never harm his family. But the belief that other lands were inhabited by evil sorcerers existed among all ancient peoples. The new wife could be either from the Germanic or from the Baltic tribe, with which the Wends were in contact.

Although in the fairy tale the father is called an old man, in reality this is not the case. Children in those days became adults early at the age of 13-14, that is, the girl’s father was at most over thirty years old. He married for two reasons: he needed an heir and he was a young man full of strength. He became an old man in later times, when there was a reason to explain the motive for his father’s submission to his new wife. We will never know the reason why the stepmother demanded that the girl be kicked out of the house - this motive was lost. Under the clan system, the father had complete right over the life and fate of his children, so in those days no one could challenge the decision of the head of the family. Roman legends say that a father could even kill his sons for violating his will.

The very motive of witchcraft in the fairy tale shows the attitude of the pagan priesthood of the Wends towards sorcerers and witches. It was negative. Wendish society developed, property and social stratification marked the beginning of the formation of classes. Of course, from among the community members, servants of the gods - priests - emerged. They themselves came from ancient tribal sorcerers, but having become specialists not only in spells and divination, but also specialists in conducting rituals, the priests saw sorcerers and witches as competitors. In fact, if a person, in case of trouble or illness, went to the temple with offerings and sacrifices not, but to the sorcerer, then this would affect the prestige and income of the priests. Therefore, the priests in their fairy tales glorified God-fearing virtuous heroes and in every possible way denigrated their competitors - the sorcerers. Let us recall, for example, the Greek myth about the sorceress Medea, who killed her children out of revenge on her husband. By the way, she is also a foreigner.

The old man went ahead and married his daughter to a good man; she lives with her husband and rejoices and gave birth to a boy.

This is what the leaders of the Wends looked like. The Celtic influence on the Wendish culture was very strong, just like the European influence is now.

A comment. We lost a whole storyline here. It is not clear who the person Arys was married to was, what the relationship of the girl’s father was with her future son-in-law. It is clear that the father has somehow outsmarted his wife. From the further narration we learn that the children were looked after by a mother, that is, a servant. In those days it could only be a slave. Only a wealthy or noble person could afford to have slaves. It can be assumed that Arys became the wife of the local leader. Therefore, Arysia’s father was not a simple community member, but a noble man who could give a rich dowry for his daughter.

And the witch gets even more angry, envy gives her no peace; She seized the time, turned her stepdaughter into the beast Arys-Pole and drove her into the dense forest, and dressed her own daughter in her stepdaughter’s dress and substituted her instead of her real wife. She did everything so cunningly that neither her husband nor the people - no one sees the deception. Only the old mother was the only one who realized it, but she’s afraid to say.

A comment. It was not only envy that tormented the stepmother. It would seem that she got rid of her hated stepdaughter - live in peace. But if we take other Russian fairy tales into account, then we can assume that no one wanted to marry their stepmother’s daughter. Hence the plan for cunning revenge. Since the stepmother was a witch, the revenge was magical - turning Arysya into an animal.

Why was Arys turned into a lynx? Werewolves are found in abundance in Russian folklore. Men turn into wolves or bears, which is probably a memory of the ancient cult military male unions that arose during the Indo-European community. Women witches often turn into magpies, pigs, and toads, but never into lynxes. Apparently, this is an isolated case, because the author of the fairy tale wanted it that way. The lynx was chosen for several reasons: the lynx is a beautiful animal and the lynx never attacks a person, that is, the motive that the lynx could feed the child was not doubted by the listeners. Whether there were any mythological motives for choosing the lynx as a werewolf animal, I cannot say anything - there is no data for this.

Article from the book by E. Grushko and Y. Medvedev "Slavic Mythology", 1996

Since the 90s, with the light hand of science fiction writers Yu. Medvedev and E. Grushko, Arys-Pole from a fairy-tale character has turned into a character in Slavic mythology, a certain creature - half-lynx, half-man. Since then, this erroneous opinion has been wandering through various reference books and taken up by neo-pagans (which in itself speaks of neo-paganism as a remake that has nothing to do with real ancient paganism). In fact, Russian folklore knows Arys-Field only from one fairy tale.

Along with werewolfism, the ancient author introduced a fairy tale plot with a substitute wife. This is most likely also the oldest Indo-European story. Thus, in Indian mythology there is a known myth about Vivasvata and his wife Saranyu, who after the birth of children created her own magical likeness (or transformed a maid) and, turning into mares, rushed off to free bread. But the Slavic author reworked the ancient story in his own way: if the Indians’ mother abandoned her children, the Slavs’ mother, on the contrary, continued to feed and care for them.

We can also assume another loss of the plot line: the fairy tale features a dress, thanks to which no one noticed the substitution. It was most likely magical. It is also not clear how Arys turned into an animal. According to Russian beliefs, one could become a werewolf in two ways: the first - by personal desire, by jumping over a magical object (hence the name - werewolf), that is, the person turned his animal skin outward ; the second - through a curse, one of the ways was to throw a skin over the victim, the victim could not get rid of such a skin on his own. Apparently, the lynx skin was put on Arys by deception. But this plot point was lost.

From that very day, as soon as the child gets hungry, the mother will carry him to the forest and sing:

Arys-field! The child is screaming

The child is screaming and wants to eat and drink.

The field arys will come running, throw its skin under the log, take the boy, feed him; then he will put on the skin again and go into the forest.