As early as the beginning of the 20th century, linguists noted the growing interest of writers in mythology, which prompted them to study this phenomenon in more detail. Although traces of mythology can be found throughout the history of world literature. After all, mythological motifs contributed to the creation of images, themes and plots known to the whole world. The mythological basis of a literary work is the highest level of intertextuality and the cultural immersion of the reader's imagination into the literary canvas of a work of art. Through the analysis of mythological images, additional authorial meanings and the ideological idea of any writer are revealed. I.S. Turgenev is very stingy in choosing emotionally colored vocabulary, but his vivid images, sometimes developing into symbols, are all the more valuable. "Poems in prose" have not been studied in the literary world from the point of view of mythotectonics, which determines the relevance of the study. The article deals with the images of Hercules, an old woman and a fly, which take their origins from ancient, Slavic and Eastern mythology.