Virumaa muinasjutud: tõe ja reaalsuse piirimail
Fairy tales from Virumaa: On the border of truth and reality

Summary/Abstract: One tenth of the fairy tales in the Estonian Folklore Archives have been collected in Virumaa. The article gives an overview of the fairy tale types most widely spread in Virumaa: wondertales ATU 300, 301, 313, 327A, 403C, 409, 480, 650B, and animal tales ATU 117, 169*, 243. Some tales of magic less known elsewhere in Estonia (ATU 312D, 326, 650B) are inherent in Virumaa. The article dwells upon fairy tales including anthroponyms, which are rather exceptional among fairy tales, and also fairy tales that are related to concrete places in Virumaa. In spite of some eastern features especially prominent in four parishes of Ida(East)-Viru County, Virumaa fairy tale tradition generally belongs to northern Estonian fairy tale repository. By their strategies of name-using in fairy tales, Virumaa narrators have been similar to the ones elsewhere in Estonia. Although Virumaa fairy tales seem to include more place names than in Estonia on average, the most peculiar developments in this sphere often result, above all, from the style of concrete collectors.

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