PERI IN AZERBAIJANI FAIRY TALES: ON THE QUESTION OF THE SOURCES OF THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE FOLKLORE IMAGE

Abstract

The article examines one of the most characteristic female images of Azerbaijani fairy tales – peri, who in different plots can act in completely opposite functions (a wonderful helper and/or opponent). The question of the origin and further development of this type of fairy-tale heroines in Azerbaijani folklore has been little studied. In this regard, a detailed description of the structure of the image under consideration is given according to the paradigm of signs proposed by L.N. Vinogradova and S.M. Tolstaya for the study of mythological characters. The information gathered together on each attribute allows us to assert that the image of the peri of Azerbaijani fairy tales is historically multi–layered and goes back to several traditions harmoniously combined in it: oral (mythological and folklore) and written (the Koran, hadith – recorded legends about the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, Sufi poetry).