“The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (Tale Type ATU 707) and Eurasian-American Parallels

Abstract

After discussing the ATU index of tale types (Aarne-Thompson-Uther) and Stith Thompson’s views on world folklore, the author analyzes patterns of the areal spread of the episodes which are commonly found in type 707 tales. Russian readers are familiar with this type thanks to Alexander Pushkin’s fairytale. As many other ATU tale types, no. 707 is found from Ireland and Maghreb, to India and Mongolia; it has also been recorded in Africa. At the same time, it is popular in Siberia, excluding its Northeastern part. Siberian and some Eastern European texts contain details that are typical both for ATU 707 and for the “Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away” stories about the adventures of two brothers. These brothers are protagonists of many Amerindian mythological tales recorded across the greater part of North America. The absence of parallels for such tales in the Asian Northeast and North American Northwest — and their wide spread across territories more distant from the Bering Strait — is typical for episodes and images that had been brought from Eurasia to the New World at the early stages of its peopling. In ATU 707, the deeds of two generations of heroes are described: the marriage and ruin (humiliation) of a young woman and the survival and triumph of her children who possess magic qualities and overcome the antagonists. Such a scheme is much more typical for Amerindian than European tales. Before being brought into the New World, this scheme had to be popular in the eastern part of Eurasia.