From childhood, everyone remembers the tale "Zaikin's hut." It was once read to us by mothers and grandmothers, and now we ourselves tell children and grandchildren. And it’s a sin to hide, often the child’s question baffles us: “The bast hut ... What is it made of?”
Riddles of Russian fairy tales
Folk Russian fairy tales, which were listened to by many generations of children, came to us from ancient times. The famous Russian philologist V. Propp believed that the roots of the tale go back to primitive mythology, and their meaning is much deeper than a straightforward plot.
These works of folklore are emotionally rich, instructive, they make empathy with the heroes, arouse imagination. Their educational function is huge. But sometimes fairy tales contain words, concepts and expressions that are incomprehensible not only to young children, but also to modern adults. This complicates the perception of the text, but the child seeks to satisfy his curiosity, understand, understand.
For example, what kind of “susek”, according to which the old woman scraped the flour for Kolobok? Why did Baba Yaga's hut have chicken legs and on what kind of stupa did the hostess herself fly? Or why did the harmful old woman Ivan Tsarevich put in a furnace on a shovel? They dig their land ...
The old fairy tale about Zaykina’s hut is not fully understood by such old tales. “The Fox and the Hare lived in the forest. And Lisa had an ice hut, and Zayka had a bast hut ... ”What is the bast hut made of?
What is bast
To answer this question, you must first figure out what kind of material - bast.
On a saw cut of a tree or on a fresh stump, three layers of different color are clearly visible: the dark outer is the bark, the lightest and densest inner is wood, and between them a layer of rather soft, light brown or yellowish color. This is the bast - the inner part of the cortex, or, as V. Dahl wrote - “suborder”, “the underside of the cortex”.
Shot from a tree trunk, peeled and dried bark is a rather rough and at the same time flexible cloth. In some trees, for example, in linden, the forehead is easily divided into separate fibers, which are called bast.
So that's what a bast hut is! Made of bast - a soft "subcore".
In the past, the word "bast" was also often called coarse nettle and hemp fiber used for matting. But this has no relation to Zaykina’s hut.
What did they do from bast
The material that Zayka chose for his house can only seem unusual to a modern, uninformed person. In the past, many things were needed from the bast in the household, and even now it is widely used in decorative and applied art.
Most often, linden was used. It bends well and is divided into fibers, has a pleasant golden color and smells of honey fragrantly.
Boxes of all sizes were made from linden bast — in antiquity they kept various things and foodstuffs in them; baskets, basins, baskets, bread bins and even cradles. Of the finer fibers of the bast - the bast - weaved the most common shoes - bast shoes, made sponges, ropes, and on special machines weaved guns for household needs.
Sometimes roof foreheads were used instead of shingles. But what does the bast hut mean?
Why bast?
An inquisitive and inquisitive kid, listening to a fairy tale and explanations of an adult, will surely ask why Zayka did not build a house for himself, for example, from logs, boards or clay. By the way, in one of the modern versions of the tale, the hare has a sand hare. Probably so that the parents do not rack their brains over the explanation.
Having figured out where the bunny hut comes from, what it is made of, it remains to find out why it is from the bast, and not from other material more suitable for building a house.
The tale, as you know, is a lie, but a hint in it. Despite all the fantastic situations, fairy tales are logical in their own way. Children are generally realistic, their thinking is concrete, and peasant children would obviously doubt that Zayka had an ax and a saw. The hare simply could not build a hut of logs and boards, but there is no clay in the forest, and this animal does not dig holes.
And he peels the bark from the trees, especially in winter. The soft bark and bast of young trees are the main winter food of these animals in the forest. There is even an old children's counting room in which the hare “bastily torn ... put under the deck”.
So it turns out that Zayka could have only a bast hut. What it is made of and why precisely from this material is explained in terms of logic and worldly experience. But there is another important point.
Fairy tale poetics
Folk tales have a special poetic language. The narrator’s speech flows slowly, like a forest stream, each word in it in its place, is filled not only with meaning, but also with sound. After all, it’s not without reason that the fox’s hut is not snowy, but ice. “Hut bast, hut icy” - these definitions are simultaneously opposite in meaning and very close in sound. Soft affectionate phrases are perfectly woven into the lace of a fairy tale, making it almost a poetic work. Yes, and children such soft soothing words are better perceived and remembered.