Fox in Animal Tales of Xinjiang Oirats

Abstract

Animal tales are the oldest genre of oral art. Genetically, they go back to myths about animals developed through human aspiration to learn the outer world. Myths had a magical meaning for man who believed himself related by blood to animals, which inevitably resulted in attributing individual characteristics to personified animals. The defining features of animal tales as a genre are the system of characters, trick as a basis of the plot, and dialogue that creates the drama of events. Animal tales are an organic part of the magic epic of many peoples, including the Oirats of Xinjiang (China) where the former are presented in large numbers. Over a hundred texts of myths and fairy tales with animals as central characters have been published in Clear Script folklore collections and periodicals. One of the main characters to such fairy tales is fox. Goals. The article seeks to review texts of animal tales which reveal different characteristics of fox as a trickster, determine the range of fairy tale texts with fox as a main acting character. Fairy-tale folklore of Xinjiang Oirats of Xinjiang — including tales about animals — are thus newly introduced into Russian scientific discourse. Conclusions. Stories ending with triumphs of the sly fox constitute a majority of the tale cycle about sly animals. It should be noted that this character is equally characterized by cunning and stupidity. As is shown by the texts introduced, fox is far not always that victorious but rather may fall victim to other characters’ deeds.