A folk tale image transformation in popular printed (lubok) tales: the case of Baba Yaga

The paper addresses one aspect of relations between folklore and popular print (lubok) traditions related to the transformation of folk tales in popular printed (lubok) compilations of tales. Primary attention is focused on the resulting changes of the functional features of the Baba Yaga character. The novelty of the used research approach is in the broadness of the contexts for the comparison of Baba Yaga’s functions in lubok texts and folk fairy tales. The paper analyzes a fragment of a tale included in a lubok compilation dated to the early XIX century. Significant strengthening of the heroic aspects in the narrative resulted in the correlation between Yaga’s functions and the functions of the main character (the hero). This resulted in Yaga acquiring features non-specific for this character, including the correction of goal-setting. In addition to the abovementioned changes in the specificity of the functioning of this type of Baba Yaga, typical for the analyzed plot, the manifestations of functional features of other types were identified. These observations provide a perspective for further reconsideration of the essence and quality of transformation of folklore plots performed by an anonymous author of the lubok tale, as the main types (forms) of Baba Yaga were identified by V. Ya. Propp only a century later.