FOREST BEINGS IN THE UDMURT MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE: III. <i>OBYDA </i>("FOREST WOMAN")
The article continues the research on systematization of the Udmurt folk beliefs about mythological forest beings. The author analyzes folklore texts about obyda (a forest female being who was believed to have feet turned backward and huge saggy breasts which she could throw over her shoulders). The research of the topic is of great importance, firstly, because of the lack of scientific papers devoted to obyda, secondly owing to popularization of the analyzed forest spirit in the Udmurt contemporary pop culture. It has been revealed that information on obyda became freely available to the general public due to collections of the Udmurt folk fairytales which have been published both in the Udmurt and Russian languages since the middle of the 20th century. The found originals of the published texts allowed the author to specify the date and the place where they had been recorded: all folktales were collected in the late 19th century among the Udmurt local groups living outside the Udmurt Republic and having direct contact with the Mari. In the Mari traditional culture ovda is one of the most popular mythological characters. The analysis of the motifs which are developed in the Udmurt tales demonstrates their similarity to Mari folk motifs. The obtained data indicate that the Mari folk beliefs had a direct influence on developing ideas about obyda in the Udmurt tradition.