Fairy Tales About Three Kingdoms (The Copper, Silver and Gold Ones) in Popular Literature and Russian Folk Tradition

The article is devoted to the type of a fairy tale plot about three kingdoms (gold, silver and copper) popular in the Russian folk tradition and known in two versions: in one of them the kingdoms are situated under the ground, and in another one they are located on the mountain. The appearance of the second version is related to the very first Russian fairy tale published in 1782 and entitled “The Tale of the Golden Mount, or The Wonderful Adventures of Idan, Prince of the East” which is full of a specific oriental flavor. Later, the text was russianized and published in various cheap popular editions of numerous copies during 150 years (the end of the 18th — the beginning of the 20th century). A book fairy tale still existed in the oral tradition: its versions used to be recorded in various corners of Russia and are included in many collections of Russian folk tales, published in the last quarter of the 19th century, in the first half of the 20th century and even in the early 21st century. These texts still conserve certain details (such as the abduction of hero’s mother, the presence of four locuses, the enemy’s name, the conversion of the kingdoms into an egg etc.) associated specifically with popular sources, which are not always easily recognizable because they are being lost or transformed in the course of long life of the oral tradition of the folk tale.