REPRESENTATION OF UKRAINIAN AND POLISH CULTURAL CODES IN LILIIA KORNILIEVA’S FAIRY TALE “THE LEGEND OF A CASTLE”

Abstract

The article analyzes Liliia Kornilieva’s fairy tale “The Legend of a Castle” as a literary text that recreates the multifaceted intercultural space of the Ukrainian-Polish borderlands. The author examines how Ukrainian and Polish cultural codes are represented through domestic details, archetypal characters, and symbolic objects. Particular attention is given to the linguistic strategies of the tale, which construct a vernacular-fantastic mythopoetics and emphasize moral virtues, compassion, and the spiritual resilience of the protagonists. The fairy tale demonstrates a model of intercultural dialogue where traditions coexist in harmony without the dominance of one culture over the other. Ukrainian culture in the narrative is expressed through ethnographic details of Carpathian life: Kosiv painted ceramics, weaving, pottery, woodcraft, and dialect vocabulary. These elements form an authentic “dictionary of culture” that blends documentary precision with artistic imagination. The characters are not reduced to flat archetypes but are portrayed as complex moral figures rooted in collective memory and folk ethics. The symbolic role of the earrings – an heirloom repeatedly leaving and returning to the castle – embodies the sacred continuity of family memory while acting as a cultural bridge between Ukrainian and Polish traditions. At the same time, the Polish cultural code is reflected through the image of the noble family, the castle, and the conventions of lineage and honor. Liliia Kornilieva skillfully contrasts dynastic marriages of advantage, which lead to decline, with the spiritually grounded union of the nobleman’s younger son and the Ukrainian peasant’s daughter, which brings renewal and harmony. In this way, the tale demonstrates how intercultural dialogue can generate positive transformation. The language of the story, rich in dialect forms, archaisms, rhythmic repetitions, and metaphoric imagery, produces a vernacular-fantastic mythopoetics that integrates Carpathian everyday life with a new intercultural myth about the power of memory, mercy, and love.