GIANTS AND LILIPUTS IN THE FAIRY TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM

Abstract

German folk tales – monuments of history, philosophy, culture, language – make it possible to reconstruct both the centuries-old life experience of Germans and the wisdom of the German people. The aim of the proposed scientific study is to establish the peculiarities of the morphology of two types of humans from ancient times – giants and midgets, their role in community life. The achievement of the set goal is implemented through a complex methodology represented by general scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, a descriptive method with the use of external interpretation, in particular the analysis of dictionary definitions, and a structural method with elements of contextual, intertextual and semantic analysis. The results of the study show that people were classified by body size, physical strength, appearance, age, gender, behavior, status, education, place of residence, lifestyle, occupation, etc. Three main types of social creatures that lived on the territory of modern Germany are singled out: people, giants, midgets. The origin of people is equivalent to the natural processes of the planet Earth, giants and midgets – supernatural, respectively. Verbal designations of people, giants and midgets appeal to singular and plural forms. Interpersonal relationships between humans and giants, humans and midgets vary: from relatively peaceful to hostile, from normative to non-normative. People-adventurers are perceived as brave, communicative, intelligent persons, giants – as mentally limited, strong individuals, midgets – as dual energy beings with supernatural abilities (teleportation, telepathy, clairvoyance). The conclusions state that giants and midgets are types of humanoid creatures of the planet Earth, living in houses of certain geographical areas, in particular forests and mountains. The relationship between giants and people correlates with the type of activity of the latter: farmers are respected, craftsmen are despised, powerful people are attacked, the relationship between Lilliputians and people is pragmatic.