“Frost” is a fairy tale that has many different plot varieties. Classics of Russian literature loved this genre and therefore engaged in their processing of plots. Leo Tolstoy also has the famous “Morozko” treatment. Two options were recorded in the collection “Folk Russian Tales” by A. Afanasyev. He wrote down the first option in the Novgorod province, the second - in Kursk. According to the plot of “Frost”, a wonderful children's film of the same name was even shot. Researchers calculated that this tale in different regions sounds different and there are about four dozen Russian versions, Ukrainian - only thirty, Belarusian - eleven.
Folk tales
Previously, peasants were afraid of the supernatural forces of Frost and almost until the 19th century sought to appease him with the help of jelly. But then interest in this mythological character gradually lost, but the form of the fairy tale remained and was not forgotten. There is another version of “Frost”, this fairy tale was recorded from the words of the peasant-teller Anna Fyodorovna Dvoretskova. Collectors of folklore learned that in their evenings, fairy tales were told in their evenings during spinning or weaving. This interpretation was included in the book "Tales and Legends of the Pushkin Places" (1950).
Summary of "Frost" in the processing of L. Tolstoy
Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman. The old man had his own daughter, and the old woman had her own daughter, whoever did it, stroked her head all over, and her stepdaughter got everything, she looked at the cattle, and stoked the stove, and cleaned the hut, in general, all the dirty work housework performed. But it was simply impossible to please the wicked and grouchy old woman, and she decided to completely squeeze her stepdaughter from the light.
Once she commands her weak and spineless old man, so that he takes his daughter to the woods in the crackling frost, so that her eyes do not see her. The old man felt sick and cried, but he was afraid of his grandmother more than death and could not even argue with her. Then he harnessed the horse, put his daughter in the sled and drove her homeless to the forest. And then he threw it right into the snowdrift near the big spruce.
Frost
The summary of “Frost” can be continued by the fact that the poor girl sits under the spruce and a strong chill makes her way. Then she sees - Morozko jumps from branch to branch, crackles and clicks. And soon he found himself near the girl and began to cunningly inquire so much about whether she was warm? She humbly answered him that she was very warm, and called him affectionately - Morozushko.
Then the Frost began to sink even lower and crackle more than ever. And again he asks the girl about whether she has frozen? But she again responded kindly, calling him father and Frost, and assured him that she was warm. Then Morozko sank even lower and crackled harder. And again she turned to her with his questions about how warm she, the red girl? And the girl began to barely speak, and she was completely numb from the cold, and then, turning to him, she called Frosty the kindly heart and soul and again reassured him, saying that she was very warm.
Reward for patience and kindness
Then Morozko took pity on her, threw a warm coat on her and warmed him with down comforters.
Summary “Frost” further tells that at this time the wake in the old woman’s house is in full swing, she bakes pancakes and sends her grandfather to bring his stiff daughter from the forest to bury.
The old man came to his place and sees that his daughter is rosy and cheerful, in a sable coat, in gold and silver, and next to it is a full box full of rich gifts. The old man was very happy, put his daughter in a sled, loaded all her wealth and drove home.
Temptation
As the old woman saw that they were taking the old daughter in silver and in gold, she immediately ordered another sled to be harnessed and her daughter to be taken to the same place. The old man did just that, he drove his stepdaughter into the forest and dumped her again under the same spruce.
The girl sits, freezes, knocks with her teeth. And Morozko in the forest crackles and clicks, and his daughter glances at the old woman. And then she asks if the girl is warm, and she replied that she was cold and oh cold! Frost drops lower and snaps more than before, crackles and again asks the girl whether she is warm. Then she screamed that her hands and feet were frozen. And Morozko completely grabbed and hit even harder. The girl moaned completely that Morozko the cursed perished and disappeared. Then he became angry and so grabbed so much that the old woman’s daughter was completely numb.
The summary of “Frost” ends with the fact that in the morning the old woman calls the old man to her so that he immediately goes after her daughter and brings her in gold and silver. The old man harnessed his sleigh and drove off, and the little dog beneath the table announced that the groom would marry the old daughter soon, and they would bring the old woman’s daughter in a bag of bones.
When the grandfather returned, the old woman ran to his sleigh, raised the mat, and there her dead daughter lay. The old woman screamed, but it was too late.
Justice
This Russian folk tale is part of the school curriculum for literature. The main characters of the fairy tale “Frost”, as expected, are both positive and negative, otherwise it would be uninteresting to read. The plot presents a variation of the story of a persecuted person (stepdaughter), to whom a wonderful helper (Morozko) comes to the rescue and rewards him for his kindness, meekness, humility and hard work. And he punished the other person (the daughter of an old woman), proud, self-serving and malicious,.
The stepmother, of course, in this folk work is the main fiend of evil and the instigator, to whom retribution also came. Her husband is a subservient person who cannot resist her due to the weakness of his character; fate also did not offend him.
This story is clearly educational and moral in nature, which is very easy to read. The meaning of the fairy tale "Frost" is that the triumph of justice sooner or later, but it will certainly come, and everyone will receive a reward for his deeds, as they say, whoever sows, he will reap.
Fairy tale "Frost": reviews
The end of the tale is quite tragic, if not cruel. Russian folk tales, including “Frost”, are narrated on behalf of a people who have in all ages condemned the envy, greed and oppression of the defenseless. According to reviews, the behavior of negative heroes, such as a stepmother and her daughter, causes the reader to reject injustice, and the punishment is perceived, on the contrary, as a triumph of justice.
In general, there are a lot of discussions about Russian folk tales, “Frost”, for example, like many others, supposedly very bloodthirsty and cruel, which assert dubious ideals in the form of meekness instead of assertiveness, and the emphasis is on material wealth.
To protect the child from excessive cruelty, according to some parents, you need to prevent children from reading such stories. The negative protagonists of the fairy tale “Frost” seem to serve as a bad role model.
However, one must understand that this is our ancient heritage, so to speak, folk folk belongings, and the plot is therefore due to the realities of that very primitive and dark time. Then such cruelty was justified, since it set itself the goal of instructing the younger generation, and the brighter the colors, the deeper the educational impact.
Wisdom of the Ages
The most important thing in this topic should be noted: fairy tales have always preserved the centuries-old wisdom of the people, and the task of modern educators is not to break the thread that connects the generations and help the young reader to read, correctly understand and respect the folk wisdom of fairy tales invented by our ancestors.