Kipling's prose is the main theme of the images of his fairy tales. Lesson on extracurricular reading "R

Municipal state-owned special (correctional) educational institution for students, pupils with disabilities "Special (correctional) primary school-kindergarten No. 10" V type

extracurricular reading

Fairy tale by Rudyard Kipling

"Where did the armadillos come from?"

Prepared and hosted:

Novokuznetsk city district

Purpose of the lesson: to acquaint pupils with the work of R. Kipling; broaden the reader's horizons; develop expressive reading, improve reading technique, sense of humor; to instill interest and love for the book; educate respect for books.

Material for the educator

Rudyard Kipling is a poet and prose writer of great talent. An inexhaustible wealth of pictorial means, precise and bold language, vivid imagination, keen observation, extensive and versatile knowledge - all these wonderful properties, combined together, make Kipling a writer belonging to all mankind.

Kipling's jokingly ironic "fairy tales" attract young readers with their original invention, brightness of colors and lively colloquial language. As if answering countless children's questions “why” and “why”, the author tells with sly humor where the elephant’s trunk came from, why the leopard became spotted, how the hump appeared on the camel, why the rhinoceros has a rough skin in folds, why the whale has a narrow throat how the first letter was composed and how the first alphabet was invented, how pets appeared. Answering all these questions, Kipling gives vent to creative imagination and at the same time makes children think about many things.

Kipling's fairy tales are full of funny jokes and jokes. His tales are unexpectedly interrupted by appeals to small listeners. The main text is complemented by cheerful poems and expressive author's illustrations with witty explanations. All of these are part of the same idea.

"Where did the armadillos come from"Decipher the title of the story

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Answer:"Where did the armadillos come from."

Content Questions

Did you like the fairy tale?

What impression did she make on you?

What was especially memorable?

Where do the events in the story take place? (On Amazon.)

Name the main characters in the story?

Tell us how the hedgehog and the turtle lived?

How did the jaguar spend his time?

Who explained to the jaguar how to catch turtles and hedgehogs?

What advice did the mother give to her son?

Tell us, how did the first meeting of the jaguar with the turtle and the hedgehog take place?

Why didn't the jaguar catch anyone?

Tell us how the animals confused the jaguar?

Did the jaguar try to catch the hedgehog and the turtle again?

How did the hedgehog and the turtle manage to fool the jaguar?

What has the hedgehog learned?

What has the turtle learned?

What question does the story ask us?

What animals did the tortoise and hedgehog turn into?

Kipling wrote an entertaining, interesting fairy tale, but it cannot be recognized as a scientific fact. Why?

Where can we get reliable information and scientific answers to the questions: who are armadillos? What is known about the life of a hedgehog and turtles? (Encyclopedias, reference books.)

Find the heroes of the fairy tale in the table

Horizontally: hedgehog, turtle, armadillo. Vertically: jaguar.

Digital dictation

The teacher reads statements to the children, if the children agree with the statement, put 1 (one), if they do not agree - 0 (zero).

1. The events in the fairy tale take place on the Amazon River.

2. The turtle ate the frogs. (Green salad.)

3. The hedgehog ate snails.

4. The hedgehog was called Angry-Thorn.

5. The turtle was called Hurry. (Slow.)

6. Jaguar was called Painted.

7. The hedgehog is not afraid of water. (Fears.)

8. Mother taught the jaguar to catch turtles and hedgehogs.

9. The turtle pricked the jaguar. (Hedgehog.)

10. The hedgehog learned to curl up. (Turtle.)

11. A hedgehog with a turtle turned into armadillos.
Answers: 101 101 010 01.

Test

2. On what river did the events take place?
a) On the Volga b) On the Amazon

3. What kind of water was in the river?

a) cloudy b) clear

4. Who hunted the turtle and the hedgehog?
a) Leopard b) Jaguar

5. What was the name of the hedgehog?

a) thorn-thorn b) prickly side

6. What was the name of the turtle?

a) Hasty b) Slow

7. What was the name of the Jaguar?

a) Painted b) Clockwork

8. What did the turtle learn?

a) swim b) run

9. What did the hedgehog learn?

a) swim b) run c) jump

10. What did the turtle and hedgehog have after bathing?

a) Scales b) Spines c) Carapace

11. What animals did the hedgehog and the turtle turn into?

a) Jaguars b) Turtles c) Armadillos

Answer: 1 - in; 2 - b; 3 - a; 4 - 6; 5 - a; 6 - in; 7 - a; 8 - in; 9 - a; 10 - a I - c.

Decipher the characters of the fairy tale

I. Cross out all repeated letters and read the word.

Answer: jaguar.

Answer: hedgehog.

2. Match the numbers from the right column with the letters of the left column and read the word.

Answer: turtle.

3. Read only Russian letters.

DBFWRPYOLHNEZQHWOSCYEUцIW

Answer: armadillo

Game: "Guess who said?"

1. “If, son, you find a Hedgehog, rather throw him into the water. Hedgehog
unroll itself in the water. And if you find a Turtle, scratch it out of its shell with your paw.”

2. “I threw another animal into the water. He said his name was Turtle, but I didn't believe him. It turns out that it really was a Turtle. She dived into the water, into the muddy Amazon River, and I never saw her again. And so I was left hungry and I think that we need to move from here to other places. Here in the troubled waters of the Amazon, all the animals are so smart. I can't handle them poor."

3. “After all, if, as you say, I said what she said, what I said, then it turns out that I said what she said. And if you think that she said that you should turn me around with your paw, and not throw me into the water with my shell, I have something to do with it, don't I?

4. “You curl up so well - just like my brothers and sisters. Two holes, you say? Okay, just don't puff so loudly, or the Painted Jaguar will hear. Bolder! When you're done, I'll try to dive in and stay underwater longer. You say it's very easy. The Painted Jaguar will be surprised! But how the shields on your shell moved! Before they were side by side, and now one on top of the other.

Answers: 1. Mom jaguar. 2. Jaguar. 3. Turtle. 4. Hedgehog

Repair the deformed text. Insert missing words

“Darling .., I will tell you again ... about the Distant and Ancient Times. Lived then Zlyuchka-... Hedgehog. He lived on... the river.... he ate snails and different things. And he had..., a Turtle.... who also lived on the muddy Amazon River, ate different varieties and... lettuce. Everything went .... didn’t it, dear boy? ”

Reference words:boy, fairy tale, thorn, muddy, amazon,girlfriend, unhurried, green, good.

Answer:“Dear boy, I will tell you again the tale of Distant and Ancient Times. Lived then Zlyuchka-Prickly Hedgehog. He lived on the muddy Amazon River, ate snails and different kinds. And he had a girlfriend, Slow Turtle, who also lived on the muddy Amazon River, ate different varieties and green salad. Everything was going well, wasn't it, dear boy?"

Kipling's work is one of the most striking neo-romantic trends in English literature. His works show the harsh life and exoticism of the colonies. He dispelled the common myth about the magical, luxurious East and created his own fairy tale - about the harsh East, cruel towards the weak; he told the Europeans about the mighty nature, which requires from every creature the tension of all physical and spiritual forces.

For eighteen years, Kipling wrote fairy tales, short stories, ballads for his children and nephews. Two of his cycles gained world fame: the two-volume "The Jungle Book" (1894-1895) and the collection "Just Like That" (1902). Kipling's works invite young readers to reflection and self-education. Until now, English boys memorize his poem "If ..." - the commandment of courage.

The title of "The Jungle Book" reflected the author's desire to create a genre close to the most ancient monuments of literature. The philosophical idea of ​​the two "Jungle Books" comes down to the assertion that the life of wildlife and man is subject to a common law - the struggle for life. The Great Law of the Jungle defines Good and Evil, Love and Hate, Faith and Unbelief. Nature itself, and not man, is the creator of moral precepts (which is why there is no hint of Christian morality in Kipling's works). The main words in the jungle: "You and I are of the same blood ...".

The only truth that exists for a writer is living life, not bound by the conventions and lies of civilization. Nature already has the advantage in the eyes of the writer that it is immortal, while even the most beautiful human creations sooner or later turn to dust (monkeys frolic and snakes crawl on the ruins of a once luxurious city). Only fire and weapons can make Mowgli the strongest in the jungle.

The two-volume "The Jungle Book" is a cycle of short stories interspersed with poetic inserts. Not all short stories tell about Mowgli, some of them have independent plots, for example, the short story-tale "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi".

Kipling settled his many heroes in the wilds of Central India. The author's fiction is based on many reliable scientific facts, the study of which the writer devoted a lot of time. The realism of the depiction of nature is consistent with its romantic idealization.

Another "children's" book of the writer, which has gained wide popularity, is a collection of short tales, called by him "Just like that" (you can also translate "Just fairy tales", "Simple stories"): "Where does the Whale have such a throat", "Why does the Camel have a hump ", "Where did the Rhino's skin come from", "Where did the Armadillos come from", "Elephant cub, "How the leopard got its spots", "The cat that walked by itself", etc.

Kipling was fascinated by the folk art of India, and his tales organically combine the literary skill of the "white" writer and the powerful expressiveness of Indian folklore. In these fairy tales there is something from ancient legends - from those legends that adults believed in at the dawn of mankind. The main characters are animals, with their own characters, quirks, weaknesses and virtues; they look not like people, but like themselves - not yet tamed, not painted according to classes and types.

“In the very first years, long, long ago, the whole earth was brand new, just made” (hereinafter translated by K. Chukovsky). In the primeval world, animals, like people, take the first steps, on which their future life will always depend. Rules of conduct are just being established; good and evil, reason and stupidity only determine their poles, and animals and people already live in the world. Each living being is forced to find its own place in the world that is not yet arranged, to look for its own way of life and its own ethics. For example, Horse, Dog, Cat, Woman and Man have different ideas about goodness. The wisdom of man is to "negotiate" for all eternity with the beasts.

In the course of the story, the author refers to the child more than once (“Once, my priceless whale, lived in the sea and ate fish”) so that the intricately woven thread of the plot would not be lost. In action, there is always a lot of unexpected - such that is unraveled only in the finale. Heroes demonstrate miracles of resourcefulness and ingenuity, getting out of difficult situations. The little reader seems to be invited to consider what else could be done to avoid bad consequences. Because of his curiosity, the baby elephant forever remained with a long nose. The Rhino's skin was in folds - due to the fact that he ate a man's pie. Behind a small oversight or guilt - an irreparable great consequence. However, it does not spoil life in the future, if not to lose heart.

Each animal and person exists in fairy tales in the singular (after all, they are not yet representatives of the species), so their behavior is explained by the peculiarities of each personality. And the hierarchy of animals and people is built according to their ingenuity and intelligence.

The storyteller tells about ancient times with humor. No, no, yes, and details of modernity appear on its primeval land. So, the head of a primitive family makes a remark to his daughter: “How many times have I told you that you can’t speak in a common language! “Horror” is not a good word...” The plots themselves are witty and instructive.

A.I. Khlebnikov

A literary fairy tale is constantly in the field of view of researchers, but most often scientists are interested in the creative method of storytellers, the question of the place of a fairy tale in the history of the development of national literatures. The plot of the tale and the role of the system of events in it remain almost unexplored. The work of I.P. Lupanova. Analyzing the fairy tales of A.S. Pushkin, the researcher comes to the conclusion that the system of events in them is built according to the principles used in folk tales. Pushkin's and folk tales have a one-time action in common, however, within the framework of the magical plot of a literary tale, the lines between the elements of fairy tales and everyday fairy tales can be erased, and thanks to this, in "Ruslan and Lyudmila", "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel" "instead of antiquity, new times are visible."

The idea of ​​the possibility of using elements of different folk tales by a fairy tale writer and of expressing modern content through such a connection is fundamentally important for the analysis of R. Kipling's fairy tales. The collection "Tales for Just So" was published in 1902. This is the time when the writer realizes the catastrophic nature of the era and therefore the time of searching for the eternal foundations of the world, ways to streamline life. We will try to determine how this concept is realized through the system of events of a fairy tale, and for this we will find out the structure and functions of this system.

The first structural layer of the Kiplingian fairy tale is connected with the fairy tale. The role of the system of events in a fairy tale has been studied quite fully; V.Ya. Propp to the functional series in the process of studying a fairy tale allowed us to speak about its uniformity at the plot level: “Morphologically, a fairy tale can be called any development from sabotage and shortage through intermediate functions to a wedding or other functions used as a denouement. The final functions are sometimes rewarding, mining, or even the elimination of trouble. Methodology V.Ya. Proppa is applied to the study of folklore tales of different peoples of the globe.

The initial situation of all the fairy tales in the collection "Tales for Just So", like the initial situation of a fairy tale, introduces the hero and at the same time states the initial state of the world, it seems insufficient, devoid of logic, justice.

“Animals from the very first days began to serve man. But in the Terrible Sad Desert lived the Terrible Sad Camel, who did not even think of working...”; “Before, a long time ago, an elephant did not have any trunk ... The nose dangled in all directions, but still it was no good ...”; "Suleiman-ibn-Daoud had many wives... and they all quarreled with Suleiman-ibn-Daoud, which caused him great suffering...". The system of events of only one fairy tale "Elephant" is completely similar to the system of events of a fairy tale. The story of the Baby Elephant is the story of the youngest in the family, offended, oppressed. The development of the action can be determined through the functions of a fairy tale, highlighted by V.Ya. Proppom: prohibition (Elephant is not allowed to even remember the Crocodile), lack (the Hero feels an urgent need to know everything that is happening in the world, including what the Crocodile eats at dinner), violation of the prohibition (Elephant goes in search of the Crocodile), the appearance of good assistants (Bird Bell helps with advice, Bicolor Python Rocky Serpent - in battle). The fight between the Baby Elephant and the Crocodile (the battle between the Hero and the Antagonist) becomes an event, the Hero acquires a new look (transfiguration) and a new consciousness. The last functions: the return of the Hero and the punishment of the offenders, demonstrate a new order of things in the world: you will never see, - just such a trunk, like that of this curious Elephant. In the remaining tales of the collection, only individual elements of the functional series of a fairy tale are found, but the main similarity between Kipling's and fairy tales lies in the uniformity of the initial situations.

A great influence on the structure of the tales of the collection was made by etiological tales that explain "the emergence of some features of the relief or habits of animals, or calendar cycles", and among them are tales about animals, the entire plot of which "is a detailed explanation of certain characteristic features of animals." The first tale of the collection "Why does the whale have such a throat" is similar to the tale of the Swahili tribe "Why does the whale have such a wide mouth". This is a typical etiological tale explaining the modern appearance of whales. In the initial situation, the behavior of the hero, condemned from the point of view of folk ethics, is depicted (during a long journey, he forgets his loved ones, remains indifferent when he learns about the death of his mother, father, brother, and cries only after the death of his wife) and his punishment: Kit's mouth remains as big as he was when he cried. This punishment is the only event in the tale. The function of the event here is to try to explain one of the sides of the world and reflect on the issues of ethics, the norms of individual behavior. R. Kipling’s fairy tale “Why does the whale have such a throat” is much more complicated, more synthetic: it also contains a parodic rethought structural layer of a fairy tale, in which, as a rule, the Hero marries and finds happiness, and the Antagonist is punished. In R. Kipling, the Antagonist is punished, but also finds happiness: “The sailor got married, began to live and live and was very happy. Keith also got married and was also happy.” The “everyday” element is significant in this tale, but the main thing is connected with the etiological motive, however, the meaning of etiology is wider, and it is realized through a more complex event system. The initial and final situations of this tale are contrasted. If at first the Whale swallowed everything, and “in the end, only one Fish survived in the whole sea,” then at the end of the tale the brave Sailor defeats the Whale, puts a grate in his throat. The whale does not just change its appearance, the whole world changes. The event becomes the moment of overcoming trouble, chaos and the reign of justice: "... in our time, whales no longer swallow people." In all the tales of the collection, the event is depicted as something that turns the world upside down in an instant; The sailor sings: “I put a grate, I plugged Keith’s throat”, “The Camel’s back suddenly ... began to swell ... and his huge hump swelled”, “The Hedgehog and the Turtle noticed in the morning that they did not look like themselves. ..". Such is the structure of the system of events of the fairy tales of the collection, the initial and final situations are separated by one or more often several events, as a result of which the world changes to its opposite. However, the meaning of the system of events cannot be fully understood without taking into account the influence of everyday fairy tales, the event system of which is based on the resolution of everyday misunderstanding. As a rule, the conflict in such fairy tales is removed with the help of cunning, dexterity of the hero. There is such a motive in the fairy tale “Why does the Whale have such a throat”, and in the fairy tales “How the first letter was written”, “The moth that stamped its foot”, and in some others, but it is not so important. Kipling's narrative is permeated with irony, which is inherent in a household fairy tale. From the point of view of I.P. Lupanova, the irony of a folk everyday fairy tale kills the pathos of a “literary” fairy tale of a “magic knightly type”. Kipling's authorial irony removes the absoluteness and unambiguity of the final situation of each fairy tale: the vice is punished, but the Camel "still carries its hump on its back", "... every Rhinoceros has thick folds on the skin and a very bad temper."

“The idea of ​​law, that is, a conditional system of prohibitions and permits operating within ... corporations, becomes central to Kipling’s work, and this very word - the English “law” - is repeated dozens, if not hundreds of times in his poems and stories. The category of law is especially deeply comprehended in the period immediately preceding the writing of Fairy Tales for Just So (1892-1896). In the most striking work of this time - "The Jungle Books" R. Kipling tries to find analogies between the life of the jungle and human society. The laws that govern the jungle turn out to be immutable, internally obligatory not only for animals, but also for human society. "The writer brought these laws closer, partly under the influence of a deep immersion in the myths, legends and folklore of North America and the East, with the laws of traditional, naturally formed morality." "The Jungle Book" is filled with humanistic meaning, but sometimes humanism is adjacent to the preaching of the right of the strong. Kipling himself felt this contradiction, so his further work is largely determined by the desire to solve the problems of good and evil in a generalized philosophical plan, without direct dependence on the social context. R. Kipling thinks a lot about the principles that are fundamental in the world; in 1901, the novel "Kim" was published, in which a special place is given to the study of the basic world laws from the point of view of religions and cultures of the East. At that time, the writer studied Eastern philosophy in the most attentive way, especially the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster. The main idea of ​​Zoroastrianism is as follows: “The world process consists in the struggle of two principles - good and evil, which manifests itself not only in mental and spiritual activity, but also in the material things of the world. The material world is the arena of the struggle between good and evil. From the point of view of Zoroastrianism, the world was created for good, but evil is just as strong as good. Kipling was close to the idea of ​​a world oscillating between good and evil.

Constantly keeping such a model of the world in mind, in the collection Fairy Tales for Just So, the author tries to find a universal and necessary connection between phenomena, arising from the nature of things themselves. The object of study is nature, society, morality, culture; the search for ethical foundations, timeless basic laws. Each fairy tale has its own plot, exploring the functioning of the law in different areas, but the whole collection is a single whole. The first 7 tales can be combined as considering particular manifestations of the laws of development, formation. Important in this regard are the lexical units “always” and “never”, which systematically pass through the text (the law determines either what always happens or what never happens). In 6 fairy tales out of 7 in this group, the expression “from that day” is found, and then the principle of the operation of the law is stated as a kind of result of an event, a revolution that took place in the world. The system of events in these tales demonstrates the relationship between the hero and the world. These relationships can develop in different ways.

As a result of the event, the hero can gain unity with the world. In the fairy tale “Why does the Whale have such a throat”, the Whale, although punished, is happy, just like the Sailor, who won this duel. The leopard and Ethiopian from the fairy tale “Where does the Leopard get the spots from” receive the qualities necessary for hunters: the Leopard becomes spotted, and the Ethiopian becomes black (in the initial situation of the tale, they were helpless compared to animals that had already received a protective color). Hedgehog, Turtle, Elephant (tales "Where did the Armadillos", "Elephant") find their place in nature, punish the oppressors.

In a number of fairy tales, the initial situation is marked by the triumph of a negative, from an ethical point of view, quality: greed (“Where does the Rhino’s skin come from”), laziness (“Why does the Camel have a hump”), vanity (“The Ballad of the Kangaroo”), the Rhino gets folds in the skin , Camel - hump, Kangaroo - strange appearance. The event becomes the punishment of the carrier of a negative quality, this punishment is elevated to the rank of law.

In the first part of the collection, the writer substantiates laws that, with a certain stretch, can be compared with specific natural laws (mimicry, the law of natural selection, the evolution of animal species). L. Golovchinskaya even believes that this collection "could be conditionally characterized as a playful supplement to evolutionary theory." But the writer did not set himself the only task - to explain in an intelligible form to children the principles of the development of nature, he sought to comprehend the ways of the development of the world, to identify some universal laws for nature and human society. In the initial situation of the tales “How the First Letter Was Written” and “How the Alphabet Was Created” (a situation common to both tales), it turns out that people living in the Stone Age feel an urgent need to find a means of communication. Two events (the invention of picture writing and the introduction of the alphabet) eliminate the insufficiency of the initial situation. The process of acquiring literacy by a person is portrayed by Kipling as a natural result of the development of society.

If in The Jungle Books the law is understood as the law of the pack, then here the principle of historical imagery, naturalness is elevated to the rank of law: it is natural that the natural world develops such a property as mimicry, that greed and laziness must be punished, that humanity is moving from barbarism to civilization.

A peculiar result of these reflections is the fairy tale "The Crab Who Played with the Sea", which is based on the Malay legend about the origin of the sea tide and ebb. The action is related to the mythical time of the creation of the world; after the creation of the Earth, the Sea, the Animals, the Elder Wizard commands everyone to play. (The word "game" occurs 40 times in the fairy tale). The very concept of the game in the context of this tale is equated with the concept of the law: every creature in the world must always play the same role and never violate the rules of the game. The universe, embraced by movement, by a universal game, where everyone has his own role, is a picture of the world that lives according to certain laws.

The study of the category of law in the fairy tale "The Cat Walking by itself" continues. The main opposition of the tale is savagery-civilization. The word "wild" itself and its cognate words are used 99 times in the text of the tale. In the first 4 sentences, where 14 of the 64 significant words denote this state, wildness is declared as the initial situation. But already from the 5th sentence, wild life is opposed to “domestic”, civilized life. The woman, the bearer of the “home” principle, contrasts the “wild wet forest” with “a cozy dry cave”, “open sky” - “an excellent fire”, “a pile of damp foliage” - “the skin of a wild horse”. At the beginning of the tale, three events occur that represent the defeat of the wild world: the Dog, the Horse and the Cow leave it. They are led away by the Woman with the help of fire, but then she loses in an argument to the Cat three times; these events remove the result of the previous ones and mark the victory of savagery, but this victory is not absolute: the Man and the Dog dictate their conditions to the Cat, but she accepts their law with a restriction, in essence remains a wild animal: “The cat is true to its contract ... but As soon as night falls and the moon rises, now she says: “I, the Cat, go where I please, and walk on my own,” runs into the thicket of the Wild Forest, or climbs wet Wild Trees, or climbs wet wild roofs and wildly waving his wild tail. From this tale, the universal, all-encompassing law is presented with its exceptions: on the whole, civilization, culture wins, but a place of savagery and disharmony remains in the world. The last tale of the collection "The Moth That Stamped Its Foot" once again in a comic form reproduces the picture of the world and its laws. The entire universe, from the tiny Moth to the huge Sea Beasts, the cosmic forces of the Genies and Afreets, is in a single, orderly movement. Everyone must honestly perform his function, and if anyone decides to violate the natural order of things (as was the case with Solomon when he decided to feed all the animals in the world in order to demonstrate his extraordinary greatness, as was the case with the wife of the Butterfly and the wives of Solomon himself, who, instead of in order to bring the world into their home, they destroyed it), - defeat inevitably awaits (Solomon was shamed by the Beast, absurd wives were punished). The center of the world is a person who does not oppose himself to the law, but lives according to this law: in this tale, such a person is Queen Balkis. Each fairy tale in the collection “Tales for Just So” appears to be completely independent and internally complete in terms of plot. But there is a plot and compositional unity of the whole book. He unified the principle of building a system of events and gives unity to the book. The tales in the collection are arranged according to the principle of consistent disclosure of the essence of the category of law. The first tales reveal the principles of the functioning of law in nature, then Kipling turns to human society; in the fairy tale "The Crab Who Played with the Sea" a generalized picture of the world living by the law is given. The last tales demonstrate not only the operation of the law, but also exceptions to the general rules. The law operates in such a way that there should be harmony in general, but no law is able to abolish evil in general, therefore, for several days a year, the Crab is completely defenseless, for all eternity, the Camel and the Rhinoceros are doomed to have an ugly appearance and a bad temper. Kipling comes to the conclusion that the unity of the world is necessary, but "the harmony of the great writers of the end of the century was built on the wavering and unreliable soil of the 'disharmonious' world, and therefore turned out to be unstable and fragile."

The English writer, prose writer and poet Rudyard Joseph Kipling Joseph Kipling (1865-1936) entered children's literature as the author of the famous story about Mowgli and the playfully ironic Tales, although the writer had other works intended for children and youth.

Kipling's fairy tales are very peculiar, unusual, and they are unusual, first of all, in that their main characters - people and animals - coexist as equal, equal inhabitants of the planet Earth. These tales are called animalistic. Animals in an animalistic fairy tale are depicted as they are in life, their character, habits, habits are drawn, and in no case are people meant by them - this is the main difference between these fairy tales and folklore fairy tales about animals.

In addition, these fairy tales are also unusual in that they raise very important, philosophical, not at all fairy-tale questions. For example, can a person survive in an animal society, devoid of human society (it’s not for nothing that children raised by animals, with the light hand of Kipling, scientists around the world call “Mowgli”) or the question of how writing appeared on earth, how it was the first letter was written.

The real fame for him as a children's writer was brought by the collection "Just Tales" or "Little Tales". These are not “just” fairy tales, but an incredibly homemade book written by a loving father for a beloved child, and children cannot but notice and appreciate this. The writer thought of them as answers to questions from his own children.

As a playfully ironic answer to countless where, how, why his daughter Elsie and fairy tales were written. They are named: “Where did armadillos come from”, “Why does a camel have a hump”, “Where does a whale have such a narrow throat”, “Where does a rhinoceros have a skin in folds”, etc.

Kipling's tales follow the tradition of the so-called "etiological tales" ("etiological" from the Greek words "reason", "concept, teaching"), that is, just such that explain something, for example, why the hyena's hind legs are shorter than the front ones, why is the hare cowardly. Etiological tales are known to all peoples of the world - there are many of them in African and Australian folklore. But Kipling did not process already existing fairy tales, but created his own, having mastered the general principles of folklore fairy tales.

His tales begin with a loving appeal to a child ("Elephant"): "It's only now, my dear boy, the elephant has a trunk." But, of course, it's not just the appeal itself. The whole artistic structure of the tale bears the imprint of the live communication of the narrator with the child who listens to him. As shown by the researchers, Kipling even used specific children's vocabulary, which was fully understood by the children. Here it would be appropriate to note that Kipling continued the tradition of children's English literature - he himself illustrated his fairy tales and gave explanations for the illustrations.

Communication with a child is most noticeable in the special intonation of Kipling the storyteller (“Why does the whale have such a throat”): “It was a long time ago, my dear boy. There was a Keith. He swam in the sea and ate fish. He ate both bream, and ruff, and beluga, and stellate sturgeon, and herring, and nimble, fast loach-eel. Whatever fish he gets, that one he will eat. He opens his mouth, am - and you're done!

The fairy-tale narration is interrupted by insert remarks, specially designed for young listeners, so that they remember some detail, pay attention to something especially important for themselves.
Of the Sailor who was in the womb of the Whale, Kipling says: “The Sailor is wearing blue canvas pants and suspenders (look, my dear, don’t forget the suspenders!), And a hunting knife at the side of the belt. Sailor sits on a raft, and his legs dangled into the water (his mother allowed him to dangle with his bare legs in the water, otherwise he would not have started babbling, because he was very smart and brave).

And whenever it comes to the Sailor and his blue pants, Kipling will not fail to remind you again and again: “Please don’t forget your suspenders, my dear!” This style of Kipling the storyteller is explained not only by the desire to beat an essential detail in the development of the action: with suspenders, the Sailor tied up thin splinter that he inserted into Keith's throat - “Now you understand why you should not forget about suspenders!” But even after everything is told, at the very end of the tale, Kipling will again talk about the suspenders that came in handy for the Sailor: “The blue canvas trousers were still on his feet when he walked over the pebbles near the sea. But he was no longer wearing braces. They remained in Keith's throat. They were tied with splinters, from which the Sailor made a grate.

Fairy tales are given a special charm by the cheerful enthusiasm of Kipling the narrator. That is why he plays with some detail he likes, repeating it many times. For the same reason, the writer gives the child fantastic pictures imbued with everyday humor. A whale sailing towards England, like a conductor, calls out the names of the stations: “It's time to leave! Transfer! Nearest stations: Winchester, Ashuelot, Nashua, Keene, and Fitchborough."
The poetic detailing of the action betrays the jokingly ironic idea of ​​the tale, bringing it closer to the cheerful humoresques of English folk children's poetry. In the fairy tale “The Cat That Walked by itself”, the word “wild” is repeatedly played up - the action takes place in a distant time, when tame animals were still wild: “The dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and they all were wild-forerunners and wildly wandered through the Wet and Wild forests. But the Wild Cat was the wildest - "she wandered where she liked, and walked by herself." Everything in the world was still wild - and it is said about people: “This evening, my dear boy, they dined on wild sheep roasted on hot stones, seasoned with wild garlic and wild pepper. Then they ate a wild duck stuffed with wild rice, wild grass, and wild apples; then cartilages of wild bulls; then wild cherries and wild pomegranates.” And even the legs of the Wild Horse, the Wild Dog are wild, and they themselves speak “wildly”. The diverse play on the same word brings the story closer to a humorous joke.

With a skillful technique of repetition, the writer achieves a remarkable comic effect (“Where did the armadillos come from”). The stupid Jaguar, who decided to follow the advice of the mother Jaguar, was completely confused by the smart Turtle and the cunning Hedgehog. “You say that I say that she said something else,” said the Turtle. “What of it? After all, if, as you said, that she said what I said, then it turns out that I said what she said. From such intricate speeches, the painted Jaguar feels that "even the spots on his back are sick."

In Kipling's fairy tales, the same turns, words, expressions, phrases, and even entire paragraphs are repeated many times: mother Jaguar gracefully waves her graceful tail, the Amazon is called the “muddy river”, and Limpopo is “dirty, muddy green, wide”, the Turtle is everywhere "unhurried", and the Hedgehog - "snarky-thorn", Jaguar - "painted", etc.

The totality of these figurative and stylistic devices gives the fairy tales an unusually bright artistic originality - they turn into a fun play on words. Kipling opened up to his young listeners the poetry of distant wanderings, outlandish life on distant continents. She calls into the world of the unknown, mysteriously beautiful.

With the poetry of recognizing the world, spiritual health, irony and jokes, Kipling, as a writer, won the universal recognition of teachers. The best properties of his artistic talent were revealed precisely in fairy tales.

The children were very fond of the fairy tale from the Jungle Book about the glorious mongoose who declared a merciless war on the cobras Nagu and Nagine (“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”). From him breathes the poetry of tropical adventures, dangers and victories. A small poem precedes the story in which the mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi will defeat the huge snakes Naga and Nagaina, prevent the snake cubs from hatching and save the family of the people who feed him from fierce death.

Children all over the world are reading stories about the boy Mowgli. I must say that Kipling did not have a separate work "Mowgli" - these stories are part of the "Jungle Book". "The Jungle Books" is created according to the mosaic principle. They consist of fifteen fragments, of which only eight are connected with the story of Mowgli, but even those are not arranged in a logical sequence, but alternate with stories about the White Cat and the little mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, as well as other stories.

These fragments are independent, but form a single artistic world. The main characters of the collection are the boy Mowgli, the leader of the wolf pack Akelo, the bear Baloo, the panther Bagheera, the wise python Kaa, the cruel and lonely tiger Sherkhan, his constant companion, the insidious and hypocritical jackal Tabaki, the elephant Hathi, the brave mongoose Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, his the enemies are the cobras Nag and Nagini, the persistent and inquisitive White Cat, who was looking for the best island for his relatives.

In almost all Kipling's fairy tale collections, the text is structured according to the following principle: each fairy tale is preceded by a small (and only occasionally, several pages) poem, which creates the “mood” of subsequent prose. In The Jungle Books, the author also combined poetry and prose. The idea of ​​each fragment is presented in the form of a poetic epigraph, and the prose text reveals it.

Kipling's jungle emerges as a world of struggle for existence, a confrontation between two instincts - creation and destruction, life and death. The jungle world consists of communities subordinate to each other: family, pack, people. The flock always has its leader, who ensures order, and order is a condition of life. A society without a leader (like Banderlog) is moving towards self-destruction. The law of the jungle allows hunting as killing for life, but forbids killing for fun.

The Jungle Book is something like a fable, a fairy tale and a myth. However, this work does not belong to any of these genres. In the fable, people are depicted as animals, and in the Jungle Book, animals, although they talk, still remain animals. In fairy tales, thanks to a miracle, the plot moves from misfortune to happiness. And in The Jungle Book, happiness and unhappiness naturally alternate. The story is built more on the laws of nature than fairy tales.

In Kipling's book, from an unusual angle, the real laws of nature are shown. The whole book is subject to the correct rhythm: the violation of the law is the renewal of laws. If the tiger Sher Khan infringes on one of the most important laws of the jungle - not to hunt a man, he must be punished, and soon he is defeated by the man-cub Mowgli. If the gray monkeys violate the ban (they are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the jungle), then as a punishment they are Fear - a huge python Kaa.

The Jungle Books is based on rich Indian folklore. Fairy tales are filled with exotic extreme situations, keep in constant tension.

But Rudyard Kipling also has completely different fairy tales, written on the basis of the events of the distant past of England, on the material of its folklore and legends. It is they who are collected in the book "Tales of Old England"

These tales are classified by many literary critics as a genre of fantastic tales. Kipling, in fact, was one of the founders of the "fantasy" genre, creating a fairy tale epic in two volumes - "Pack from the Magic Hills" and "Fairy Gifts".

Kipling borrowed his main character, Puck, or Good Guy Robin, from Shakespeare. This forest spirit, often mischievous, but kind and sympathetic to the undeservedly offended, is found in many folk tales, from where it was taken by Shakespeare. By coincidence, Puck appears before the children Yuna and her brother Dunn. Puck tells them the history of England and amuses them with his tricks and magic. Kipling's dilogy is a classic of the fantasy genre - magical stories about elves and spirits.

The plot of fairy tales was also prompted by life. Kipling acted out scenes from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with his children John and Elsie. An abandoned, grassy quarry served as their stage. John played Puck, Elsie played Titania, and Kipling himself played Warp weaver, and for his role he took out a paper donkey's head. This is how the first story begins. The tales of old England are special tales. They were called differently: historical stories, instructive parables, romantic tales, putting some of their features in the first place. Of course, there is some instructiveness in them, but it is given secretly and imperceptibly under external influence, so that it is not always visible.

The author himself admitted that in his fairy tales he “hid” something: “I arranged the material in three or four layers superimposed on each other, which may or may not be revealed to the reader, depending on his age and life experience” . Therefore, it is not always easy to determine what this or that fairy tale is about: some think about one thing, others about another. Much in these tales may seem unusual and therefore incomprehensible, especially on first reading. Fragmentary images, vague descriptions and comparisons, unusual psychological motivations for some of the remarks - all this may seem difficult at first. But, only from the beginning. These tales are thought out and verified by the author to the last word. They are designed to be read (namely, read, and not perceived by ear, as, for example, "Tales just like that").

Moreover, it is better to read them more than once, and then with each new reading you will discover new, previously unnoticed details, obscure phrases will become clear. With Kipling, every detail is very important. Kipling calls for a closer look at the surrounding land. Through the mouth of Pak, he says that it contains much more than people living on it think. The land that absorbed the sweat of thousands of unknown workers and the blood of defenders, the land on which the spirit of the people was forged, the land that merged with history and itself became history - it is she who is the true hero of Kipling's fairy tales, it is she who helps modern people to correctly realize their place in life.

The two-volume set consists of twenty-one short stories, none of which is given a specific date or century anywhere. The reader must guess this for himself, which is facilitated by hints generously scattered throughout the text of the books.

Conclusion

Rudyard Kipling was called the "lawless comet" that burst into English literature. And there were reasons for this: in the era of literary timelessness, his works attracted by harmony and clarity, strength and courage, vitality and healthy optimism of characters.

The rich language of Kipling's works, full of metaphors, has made a great contribution to the treasury of the English language.

The treasury of world culture belongs to those creations of Kipling that are marked by the spirit of humanism, fine craftsmanship, observation, poetic boldness and originality, proximity to the democratic traditions of the folklore of the English and other peoples.

In addition, Kipling is noted in English literature by the presence of four lifetime collected works, an unusual fact for England, which almost does not know lifetime collected works.