Influence of European Mythological Traditions on Mythological Beliefs in English Folk Tale Discourse

In the paper, we review the main sources of mythological beliefs reflected in English folk tale discourse and provide a discursive description of borrowed elements of mythological complexes. Borrowed mythological beliefs are accumulated in the system of folk tale characters, attributes and motifs. Mythological motifs may become weakened and even reduced interacting with both one another and Christian beliefs. The reconstruction of the original mythological meaning of a word is carried out via the analysis of its inner form, the comparative analysis of folklore and mythological texts as well as via the in-depth study of other forms of folk culture.