Фольклор долган. - 2000. (Т. 19.)

A hero of the Dolganian olonkho, as a rule, is a protector of the tribe aiyy — the dwellers o f the sky and people world — against abaasy bogatyrs who inhabit the Lower world. A hero of the Dolganian folklore is thought to be a forefather of the kin and he is entitled to hold "the axis of the Middle world". The same task usually have heroes of many epic works of Turkic speaking peoples and the Evenks. A bogatyr aiyy in heroic tales is characterised as a man possesing an extraordinary strength and magic powers. The main heroes of the Dolganian epos ride a horse who is considered to be an ancestor, a protector, an assistant in struggle, a wise and fortune-telling adviser. So, Atalamii-bogatyr was born by a mare, heroes of the epos "Brother and Sister" are saved by a horse. In the epos "Three Girls — Sisters" in every difficult situation, a horse behaves as an adviser of Golden Bogatyr. Though in the Dolganian epos one can clearly distinguish parallels with the epos of the Turkic speaking peoples there are quite many details relating to the realities of everyday life in the North and to the epic art of the peoples of the North. One can find in them much more fairy tales motifs and elements than in the Turkic-Mongolian and Evenk epos. There are some archaic elements in olonkhos revealing the remnants of the early period of the human society’s development when a woman played a leading role in the society. In "Atalamii-bogatyr" a hero is brought up by a horse-mother, who also gave him a name and instructed him. An aunt leads him along a life road, provided him with armours. A woman-bogatyr is often superior in power and strength than heroes ("Brother and Sister", "Three Sisters"), in creating a family a woman takes a decisive role. Rich and various is a set of artistic means of the Dolganian tales. An important place in them as in any epic traditions of other peoples is taken by a repeated episodes — often repeated three times, most often used, perminent, magic numbers (three, seven, eight, nine). The main artistic means in olonkhos are comparisons, epithets, hyperboles and other metaphorical and stylistic fugures, with the arsenal of them refering to the northern nature and everyday life and thus contributing to their artistic expression. In the vocabulary of the epos there are many borrowings from the Russian and Evenk languages that can be explained by a real ethnic history of these peoples. The Dolganian people considered that only those who have been selected by good deities of aiyy, especially gifted people, can perform olonkhos. Talanted olonkhosuts were respected by their own people, and the names of the famous masters were surrounded by the atmosphere of unusual, their gift was considered to have magic power and they could have an influence on the results of hunting, help during the desease. Thus we can conclude that olonkhosuts in the past having this magic "spirit of a word" played an important social function. Fairy tales are the most commonly spread and existing genre of the oral art among the Dolganian people. A fairy tale storyteller used to be a most