The Historical Roots of the Fairy Tale

How far back into the darkness of centuries do the roots of the magical folk tale go? What is the hidden original meaning of the actions of its heroes, erased from popular memory millennia ago, leaving only fairy tale plots? Why did Ivanushka the Fool or Ivan Tsarevich really go to the Thirty-Third Kingdom? Who is the mysterious Baba Yaga from the equally enigmatic hut on chicken legs?

The importance of the book "The Historical Roots of the Fairy Tale" for folklore studies is hard to overestimate. In this work, translated into many languages (from English to Japanese) and republished many times, V. Ya. Propp invites the reader to peer into the foggy antiquity and understand how meanings and archetypes move through time.