Motif of the transformations in Kalmyk fairy tales of the plot type ATU 465 ‘a man is persecuted because his wife is beautiful’

The article considers the motif of transformation in Kalmyk fairy tales of the plot type ‘A man is persecuted because his wife is beautiful” (ATU 465). The analysis showed that the motif of transformation a swan into a beautiful girl is plot-forming, dynamic, as it gives an impetus to the development of the plot. The hero, wanting to get the heavenly maiden, hides the guise of a swan and forces her to become a spouse. Swans in the Kalmyk fairy tale are described by yellowheads - “shar tolhata”. The white color, which correlates with solar semantics, is complemented by yellow, which strengthens this connection. The sun in the oral tradition of the Kalmyks has a permanent epithet “altn shar” -golden yellow. The white swan that the hunter caught is the youngest of the daughters of Hormusta Tengri, the head of the 33 Tengri celestials. The wife of unearthly beauty, from whom the radiance of the sun and moon emanates, has the attributes, that indicate belonging to another world: a yellow-mottled shawl (shar tsoohr alchur), a golden comb (altn sam), a golden ring (altn biltsg). Thanks to the transformation of the heavenly maiden, the hunter-orphan marries her, performs difficult tasks for the khan, acquires a magical assistant and, eventually, takes his place, rising to the very top of the social ladder. Thus, the study of the transformation motif showed that it reflects archaic ideas about the swan as a sacred bird with sacred significance in the traditional culture of the ethnic group, including the material one in the form of a married woman’s costume. The swan is endowed with the function of a mediator between the worlds and is revered by the Kalmyks as a totemic bird.