The paper considers the place occupied by the legends about shamans in the oral folklore of Forest Yukaghirs (based on the materials of the late 19th century collected by V. I. Jokhelson). Spread in the non-fairytale folklore of the Yukaghirs are the works in which the leading role is played by a warrior, hunter and shaman. A conclusion is drawn that the semantic core of the legends
about shamans is the belief in their magical abilities. Functionally the shamans’ texts asserted the importance of the shaman in the tribal society as an executor of a religious cult. In the Forest Yukaghirs’ folklore the image of the shaman, just as those of other main characters, is inseparable from the life of the tribe with its primary needs. Like other non-fairytales, the legends
about shamans focus on the description of the real events of the past, the traditional spiritual values. The folk vocabulary related to the topic of shamanism reflects the Yukaghirs’ traditional conceptions of shamanism as a supernatural gift and contains sacral information.
Alekseev N. A. Yakutskaya mifologiya [TheYakut mythology]. In: Alekseev N. A. (compiler) Jakutskie mify = Saha өs-nomohtoro [Yakut myths. Saha өs-nomohtoro]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2004, pp. 6-38.
Fol'klor yukagirov Verkhney Kolymy. Sost. Zhukova L. N., Nikolaeva I. A., Djomina L. N. [The folklore of the Upper KolymaYukaghirs]. Zhukova L. N., Nikolaeva I. A., Djomina L. N. (Compilers). Part 1, Yakutsk, 1989, 161 p.
Fol'klor yukagirov Verkhney Kolymy. Sost. Zhukova L. N., Nikolaeva I. A., Djomina L. N. [The folklore of the Upper KolymaYukaghirs]. Zhukova L. N., Nikolaeva I. A., Djomina L. N. (Compilers). Pt 2, Yakutsk, 1989, 89 p.
Iokhel'son V. I. Materialy po izucheniyu yukagirskogo yazyka i fol'klora, sobrannye v Kolymskom okruge [The materials for Yukaghir language and folklore study collected in the Kolymsky district]. Yakutsk, Bichik, 2005, 272 p.
Iokhel'son V. I. Yukagiry i yukagirizovannye tungusy [The Yukaghir and the Yukaghirized Tungus]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2005, 675 p.
Kurilov G. N. Yukagiry i ikh fol'klor [The Yukaghirs and their folklore]. In: Pamyatniki fol'klora narodov Sibiri i Dal'nego Vostoka [Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East]. Vol. 25, Fol'klor yukagirov [Folklore of Yukaghirs]. Moscow, Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2005. pp. 12-44.
Nikolaeva I. A., Shalugin V. G. Slovar' yukagirsko-russkiy i russko-yukagirskiy [The Yukaghir-Russian and Russian-Yukaghir dictionary ]. St. Petersburg, Drofa, 2002. 224 p.
Prokop'eva P.E. Izobrazitel'nye sredstva v povestvovatel'nom fol'klore lesnykh yukagirov [Figurative means of the Forest Yukaghir narrative folklore]. In: Filologicheskie nauki. Teorija i praktika [Philological sciences. Issues of Theory and Practice]. Tambov, Gramota, no. 6 (36), pt 2, 2014, pp. 170–174.
Spiridonov N. I. Oduly (yukagiry) Kolymskogo okruga [The Oduls (Yukaghirs) of the Kolymsky district]. Yakutsk, Severoved, 1996, pp. 6–50.
Zhukova L. N. O nekotoryh zhenskih personazhah odul'skogo fol'klora [About some female personageis of tne Odul Folklore]. Severo-Vostochnyj gumanitarnyj vestnik, 2011, pp. 106–111.
Zhukova L. N., Burykin A. A. K izucheniju shamanstva jukagirov [To the study of Yukaghir shamanism]. Aktual'nye problemy filologii [Actual problems in philology]. Issue 3, Yakutsk, Yakut State University, 2000, pp. 127–132.
Zhukova L. The Оdulfolklore: on the functional significance of shamans. Sibirica, 2014, no. 13/2, pp. 94–104.