In imaginations of many peoples the high mountains appear as the main habitat and field of action of gods, heroes and saints, who not only act in those landscapes, but are also buried (= reborn) there. The omnipresent category for the Armenian mountains is the vishap (= Arm. for dragon). This is visible both in corresponding archaeological and ethnological materials. According to them, the vishap appears both as deity, and as hero (= giant) and saint. Moreover, these functions are either intermingled or contradicted to each other.

Keywordsgods heroes saints vishap high altitude zones archaeological sites folk-tales.

The figure of an old woman in the epic “Sasna Tsrer” has a rather rich set of motifs and functions manifesting itself in all four branches of the epic. The image of Artater Parav (the mistress of the field - the old woman) stands out in the third branch of the epic with stable motifs and an important role. In her attitude to field work, as well as in other ways, this figure resembles the goddesses Demeter and Anahit, the Celtic goddess Old Mother Taitiun and the famous Old Woman Hecales in Greek mythology. In the epic "Sasna Tsrer", the image of Artater Parav has an interesting development and is characterized by a variety of functions. She manifests herself both in the image of a woman with life experience and in the image of a caring mother; she has common features with the instructive old woman from the fairy tale.

Keywordsthe old woman epic “Sasna Tsrer” tale David of Sasun plot function motif myth field work curse.

A comparative analysis of the Armenian “Three eggs” and Italian “Three oranges” fairy tales corresponding to number 408 of the international clas¬sifi-cation of “Types of folk tales” by the German philologist Hans-Jorg Utter, shows that the transition from one age group to another had different manifestations and symbolic codes in the folklore of different peoples, but they all considered the rite of passage into premarital maturity to be the most important, since not everyone managed to overcome it.

Keywords initiation ritual group of Armenian and Italian fairy tales Hans-Jörg Uther archaic thinking orange egg fairy tale symbol plot myth.