Dog and Wolf in the Russian Folklore of the Russian-Chinese-Mongolian Borderlands

Folkloristics 10/1 (2025): 93-114
Author: Vladimir L. Klyaus
Text:

The article analyzes the dog and wolf representations based on the fieldwork material collected by the author and an array of other sources reflecting the folklore tradition of the Russian people living in the borderland area of Russia, China, and Mongolia. The diversity of folklore genre forms they are found in (fairy tales, mythological tales, legends, charms, magical props, convictions, beliefs, etc.) suggests that the representations of these animals are traditional for the Russian oral culture. In the complex set of identified representations, more positive qualities are ascribed to the dog than to the wolf. The author reaches the conclusion that despite the juxtaposition of wolves and dogs in everyday life (the former are vultures capable of destroying man and their cattle, and the latter are defenders), the folklore material showcases that the worlds of the dog and of the wolf do not intersect in the oral tradition of the Russians of the examined region, but, on the contrary, that they exist in parallel. The Mongolians, Buryats, and the Chinese, with whom the Russians have lived for centuries in the borderland areas, have their own myths, legends, and representations of wolves and dogs. However, it has not been noticed that they have had a more significant impact on Russian folklore.

Keywords: dog, wolf, folklore, the Russians, the Russian-Chinese-Mongolian borderlands.