LEGEND
LEGEND is a short oral fantastic folklore story that claims to be true. The motifs and images of L. often originate from myths in Bashkortostan peoples’ folklore (see Myths). There are types of L.: 1) cosmogonic – about the creation of the world and space bodies [Bashk.: “Two ducks that created the island”, “Sever stars” (“Ursa Major”); Mar., Chuv., Udmurt: “The legend about Kiremet”; Mord.: “Inflaming hearts”: Mar.: “The duck that laid two eggs”, “Kugu Yumo”; Chuv.: “Three Suns”, “A girl on the Moon” etc.]; 2) toponymic – about the mountains’, rocks’, lakes’, villages’ origins and their names (Bashk.: “Sinister mountain”, “Stonefortress”, “Asylykul”, “Yuraktau”; Chuv. “The origin of the Volga river” etc.]; 3) about flora and fauna origins (Bashk.: “Snowdrop”, “Cuckoo”; Mar.: “Maska hunter”; Chuv.: “Azamat’s bridge” etc.); 4) ethnogonic – about the tribes’, clans’, ethnic origins (Bashk.: “Descendants from a bear”, “Descendants of wolf’s kin”; Mord.: “Origin of Mordovian people”, “Kilya girl”; Udm.: “The ancient people were tall”; Chuv.: The Legend of Chuvash settlement in Volga region”, “The Legend about Ulyp” etc.); 5) religious (Bashk.: “Flies of shaytan”, “the Deluge”; Mord.: “About a Buzzard bird”, “The origin of snake grass”; Rus.: “Jesus Christ’s origin”; Ukr.: “Nicholas the Kind”, etc.), etc. L. is very close to the genre of fable; they have common functions and do not have canonic genre forms; these are prerequisites for the mixed type of epic narrative – fablelegend. Ancient mythologic origin, elements of fantasy fiction make L.closer to bylichka and fairytale.
F.A. Nadrshina