Article

Name: Legends of Folk Hagiography about Saint Nicholas the Miracle-Worker: The Thief and Saint Nicholas

Authors: Vera S. Kuznetsova

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract:

Among the legends of folk hagiography about Saint Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, there are well-known stories about Saint Nicholas and a thief. A thief, who used to put candles before theft, prays to Saint Nicholas while fleeing. The Saint, disguised as an old man, instructs him to hide into a carrion pit. Later, the old man reveals himself to be Saint Nicholas and explains that the thief’s candle (a symbol of prayer) made him feel as stiffed as the thief did from the stench of the carrion. Similar stories are noted in indexes of folklore prose (AaTh 848* The Thief and St. Nicolas; SUS 848* =AA *848), where they are included only in Russian folklore material. The plot is rare and is represented by single texts dating from the second half of the 19th to the first quarter of the 20th century. All known variants of plot type 848* (including those discovered during research and not included in the indexes) are represented only by northern Russian, Ural, and Siberian records. A comparative analysis of these narratives revealed differences in their plot structure, allowing us to identify two variations. It was also established that the distribution of texts by plot version is not related to their locale: the same plot version can be found in a northern Russian recording and in a recording made in Siberia or the Urals. This distribution of texts by plot version 848*, coupled with the fact that some known records originate from the pure Russian North while others come from territories settled by people from various Northern Russian regions, supports the theory of Northern Russian origin of these folk hagiographic narratives about St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker and the thief.

Keywords: Russian folklore, legends, folk hagiography, St. Nicholas and the Thief

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