FOLKLORICA_7F


O.V. Belova and G.I. Kabakova, ed.  U Istokov Mira: Russkie Etiologicheskie Skazki I Legendy 
(At the Origins of the World: Russian Etiological Tales and Legends).  Moscow: Russian 
Academy of Sciences, Institute for Slavic Studies, 2013. Commentary. Archival Sources. 
Bibliography. Index. 530 pages. 
 
 This book has its origin in the volume of Russian etiological tales (Contes et légéndes de 
Russie, Flies France, Paris 2005) that one of the authors, the French ethnologist Galina Kabakova, 
published in French within the Flies series Aux origines du monde. The series aims to fill a gap 
both for specialists and for general public, by presenting a vast and largely unknown realm: 
etiological tales and legends. Begun in 1998, the series, which today includes more than 30 titles, 
covers a great number of geographical areas, nearly the entire world, from Japan to Latin 
America, and thus offers a vast encyclopedia of different popular traditions. 
 The present volume of Russian etiological tales (in Russian) is the result of collaboration 
between Kabakova and her Russian colleague Olga Belova, a leading Moscow ethnologist and a 
specialist on etiological folklore. The texts are organized thematically; cosmogonic stories 
(creation of the world, origin of the seas, mountains, rivers, climate, etc.) are followed by stories 
explaining the origin of supernatural beings, animals, birds, insects and plants. This section 
culminates with the most important event, the creation of man, a plot basically derived from 
Genesis in these stories. Then follow tales related to the origins of races, languages, and religions. 
The last section presents stories about social organization, professions, everyday life, behavior 
and customs.    
 The book is more than twice as long as the French edition and it contains a number of 
important new texts, some of them never before published. However, the main difference is the 
book’s outstanding scholarly commentary that features a significant number of variants for each 
given story, sources, bibliography, international ATU-index classification, and an index of 
themes and motifs. Last but not least, the book boasts an excellent introduction, essentially a 
comprehensive essay on the nature, structure and function of etiological tales.  
 A number of etiological stories may seem amazingly similar in different popular 
traditions, even those geographically remote from each other. The number of themes and motifs 
is relatively restricted. Many of them go back to the Bible as well or to various apocryphal 
Gospels, while still others can be traced back to non-Christian beliefs. One can argue that their 
value resides mainly in small variations in details in the stories and that even the absence of 
some of these features in a given tradition may be of significance to the scholar. 
 By comparing Russian etiological tales with tales from other geographical regions, the 
authors demonstrate that the stories share a universal fascination with the origin of the cosmos 
(the sun, the moon, the Earth and its form and composition) as well as of geographical entities. 
Other topics of interest to human life, namely the relations between the sexes and woman’s 
physiology, social function and familial roles, feature prominently in the stories as well. Animals, 
including birds and insects, constitute another favorite topic. One can also see the importance of 
the calendar, which provides the means for comprehending and organizing time. A detailed 
index at the end of the book allows the scholar to compare the roles of these different elements to 
each other. 
 It goes without saying that elements of Christian belief are omnipresent in these Russian 
stories and even dominate the worldview reflected in these tales. As in many other traditions, it is 
basically a Manichean view: God and the devil share the world and fight for the right to control it, 



a struggle that is usually presented as endless.  
 This edition of Russian etiological texts brings a rigorous scholarly approach to the 
question of these stories. In addition, it is an attractive volume, thanks to fine illustrations at the 
beginning of each new section. It offers delightful reading for general public and will be an 
invaluable source for ethnologists and folklore specialists.       
   
Elena Balzamo  
Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study 
Uppsala  
Sweden