Фольклор удэгейцев: Ниманку, тэлунгу, ехэ. - 1998. (Т. 18.)

geological, botanical and archaeological data. So far only fragments of these diaries have been published. The greater part of Arseniev’s folklore materials has been taken from his travel notes. The first tales appeared in Arseniev’s notes in 1907. Arseniev considered folklore very important for the ethnographical studies. He recorded the folklore of the Udehe, the Oroch, the Nanai, the Evenki, the Manchu and even the Koriak. Arseniev always wrote his notes in Russian sometimes inserting words and expressions of the aboriginals. The greater number of the texts are devoted to the Udehe folklore. Some of them were published in Arseniev’s books (N 76 (2), 102 (28)). Arseniev’s materials include 28 myths, 8 legends and 13 tales. Some subjects have parallels in the folklore of other Manchu-Tungusic peoples (N 76 (2), 82 (8), 83 (9)), many of them coincide almost fully with the records made in the 70s and the 80s (N 105 (31) and 14; N 107 (3) and 31; N 108 (34) and 21; N 111 (37) and 34; N 112 (38) and 42). There are among Arseniev’s texts some unique specimens reflecting the most ancient pre-shaman concepts of the Ude. Such is the myth of "Tagu-Mother and Chinihe" (N 85 (11)) telling of the heavenly husband and wife Chinihe and Tagu and of how the old woman Tagu sends the children’s souls to the earthly world. Judging from Arseniev’s notes the cult of women was of great importance in the life of the Udehe. In spite of the absence of the original in the Udehe language, Arseniev’s materials are extremely valuable now. They present a rather exhaustive rendering of the subjects made at the beginning of the century when the Ude culture and folklore were integral and living. Translated, by Iren e K otliarevski