The author investigates motives related to making of the state and state power as these motives were presented in the Slavic folklore legends and oral narratives. In the popular narrative tradition these motives are inseparably connected with the motive of faith choice. This motive is present in folklore legends of different chronological periods. Reflecting the plot borrowed form medieval literature sources the popular narratives emphasize the inseparable connection between choice of «right» faith with accession of the «right» potentate to power and consolidation of his power. In greater part of these cases such texts are results of literature sources adaptation for folklore, of textbooks, popular books and local studies retelling. Nevertheless such adaptations become assets of a local «oral history» and are transferred to «local legends» codes.

The confessional dimension of the ‘my own / alien' opposition is one of the principal factors of self-identification. This peculiarity is most vividly manifested in multiethnic and multiconfessional areas where the tradition of Christian Slav population’s neighborhood with representatives of other religions persisted for centuries. Regions where the field studies were carried out (from Bukovina to Grodno region) are exemplary in this respect because Orthodox Christians, Catholics, adherents of Eastern rite Roman Catholicism, and Jews resided in close neighborhood in such regions for a long time (up to World War II). Experience of direct neighborhood could not but leave traces in the popular perceptions of ethnic neighbors' faith and religious rites. Image of a minister in the popular world picture acquires folklore and mythological features.

The authors deal with one of the «folklore and history» problem’s aspects, specifically with reflection of knowledge about historical figures in the popular stories and legends. There is no doubt that popular legendary stories do not contain a «biographical» portrait of any historical personality. Moreover, due to the impact of the folklore narrative laws historical figures acquire fantastic qualities and by virtues of these fit the whole folklore mythological image of the world quite smoothly. How historical images are transformed in popular texts, what are the laws that govern incorporation of historical facts into the folklore imaginative system, to what archetype images historical characters are related — these are just a few issues the authors of the article address to. Some folklore «portraits» of historical personalities that placed themselves in the memory of the people and in the «oral history» (princes of the Ancient Rus, Peter I, Katherine the Great and Napoleon) are presented in the article. The article is based on the materials derived, first and foremost, from archive and field sources.

The article is written within the framework of «Slavic mythology: results and prospects of inter-disciplinary studies» research project. The project’s aim is to detect archaic elements of the popular culture that survived in languages, historical and archeological sources, in folklore, rites and beliefs of Slavs and in a varying degree reflect complex of mythological notions specific to pre-Slavic epoch and to construe them from the viewpoint of the most recent discoveries achieved in Slavic studies. The «mythological» themes that reflect peculiarities of perception of history by bearers of traditional culture are of particular significance within the limits of this study. It is exactly because of this fact material contained in popular legends that to varying extent reflect the historical past of Rus and Russia has become so attractive for the authors. In the article authors consider plots connected with notions of Slavic deities, christening of Rus and selection of religion, foundation of Kiev and reflection of confessional polemics. Material from literary and oral sources demonstrates that this circle of themes is subject to «mythological» treatment in the sphere of Medieval book-learning as well as in folklore.

Notions of one’s «own» nation and «alien» nations reflected in the popular ethiological legends clearly demonstrate the most universal motives inherent in the folklore image of «alien» ethnic entities. Notions of the «alien» groups include beliefs in the «primacy» of one’s own ethnic group, the original «goodness» or «correctness» of this group, as well as beliefs in «inhuman» nature of the aliens, the «beast» nature or the aliens' connections to the other world. As such notions take place the idea of ethnocentrism is the fundamental one and reigns supreme. Within this idea the positive attitude towards people belonging to one’s own ethnic group and negative treatment of the «aliens» are often presented in mythological thought’s terms. The distinct peculiarity of the folklore narratives in the ethnic identification theme is not just their amazing stability (the article is based on materials from various times, from the 19th century to the present day) but the organic ties of these narratives with the «world history» in its folklore interpretation which unites the genesis, events related in the Old and New Testaments and historical facts kept in collective memory in mythological form.

The article has been initiated by materials presented for discussion at the scientific conference «Concept of sin in the Slavic and Jewish cultural tradition» (the conference was held at the Institute of Slavic studies, the Russian Academy of science, in November, 1999). Being one of the main concepts that were actively comprehended and interpreted within the framework of century-old Judeo-Christian intercultural dialog «sin», as investigators of the both traditions demonstrate, represents a multitude of its aspects: as a violation of taboo system, as a concealment of the truth, as «natural» or «ethnic» quality and as some material substance which might be calculated, measured, estimated and even sold. The Slavic material (the folklore legends and beliefs, system of taboos and prescriptions, rites and rituals) shows, the popular morality as well as the popular religion expands and at the same time makes the Christian concept of sin more specific, i.e., materializes the concept. The author analyses traditional society’s attitude to the original sin and incest, to concepts of «sin» and «soul», to the problem of atonement of the sin or to the issue of the sin allowed from the above. A separate layer of the Slavic folklore is composed by legends about «sinful» animals, plants and whole nations, about sin (violation of prohibitions related to the traditional rites and the subsequent punishment).