The paper discusses А.М. Ovchinnikov's translation that is far from similar to classical canon. In the 19th century this translation was perceived by critics as a false, misshapen copy. The translator turns to the folk Slavic mythology, to Russian and East Slavic folk literature. Small forms of folklore samples, such as children’s poems, counting-out rhymes, funny stories, tall tales, folk dancing songs provided the basis for this translation. We can conclude that the translation reflects mainly the cultural pecularities of the Northern part of Russia. The author uses mostly northern dialects (Pskovian, Arkhangelsk, Onega). Northern folklore turned out to be suitable for the description of the ancient world and German cultural distinctiveness. «Faust» by Ovchinnikov has become an self-contained work in the Russian fiction translation culture. This work can included in the context of translations, made from another translation rather than from or so-called «pseudo» translations.