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Abstract:

The article discusses for the first time issues of dedication of the Tomtit by Natalya Krandievskaya and the count’s title of the writer, analyzes the reasons for recognizing the personality of a real wife and favorable home environment created by her, examines the influence of monographs and articles concerning Slavic mythology and folklore read and reviewed by Tolstoy on the problems and artistic background of the fairy tale. For the first time, specific historical, literary and folklore ‘marks’ are given (personal names and anthroponyms, storylines and other allusions to Old Russian works, patriarchal ideological codes). The dynamics of the text and genre definition, observed for the variants of the work, clearly shows the variability of historical realities use by the writer throughout reprints. But the main thing is a conditionally historical plot, composed of the actual old Russian history elements and supplemented by the author’s fiction. The ethnographic canvas of the fairy tale arose not only as a result of the writer reading scientific and educational books, but was also supplemented by his actual knowledge of folk life, gleaned from personal observations and conversations.