Bylina and Fairy Tale: The Origins of Russian Heroic Poetry

A comparison of the Russian folk epos - the 'byliny' (sing. 'bylina') - with the fairy tales reveals similarities in structure and content. Such similarities can be explained by an independent development from a common source, by cross-penetration of motifs between the two genres, or by evolution of one genre from the other. A detailed comparison of examples from both genres, based entirely on intrinsic evidence, indicates that the bylina evolved from the fairy tale.